


Take Your Time, Young Lion

by ApplePi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Humor, I'll tag em as I go, M/M, More characters will be showing up as we progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-03-24 17:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3777493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApplePi/pseuds/ApplePi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unlikely imprisonment in a local grocery story brings university students Asahi and Nishinoya together for a few hours, starting a friendship neither expected. The reclusive Asahi feels himself being pulled out of his shell by Noya and finds he doesn't mind as much as he'd thought he would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What, you don't work here?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! my first proper long fic since 2010. look at me go. I'll probably get around to linking to my old FFN account some day. I haven't decided whether or not I'm gonna post this there too so how neat.
> 
> This entire fic is basically going to be this gif:  
>   
> [ Gif Source ](http://spamano-butt-sex.tumblr.com/post/93841922701/i-decided-i-wanted-to-try-at-one-of-these-and-here)
> 
> check out the end notes for some playlists I listened to while writing!

Nishinoya Yuu stood by the idea that being in public without headphones in should be counted as its own sort of torture. The sweet tones of dubstep constantly in his ears was a requirement if he had to stand in a bank line or waiting for a bus. However, when the lights went off in the grocery store he had been browsing, he wondered if perhaps he had missed an announcement or two. He pulled out the bright orange earbud that had been nestled comfortably in his ear as he paused the music and nothing but the sound of humming freezers greeted him.

“Shit.” He whispered, trotting to the front of the store just in time to see a car pulling out of the parking lot through the wall of windows that made up the entrance. He looked at his phone after staring at the very empty lot for a moment, watching 2:59 am tick over to 3:00.

Exasperation laced the sigh he heaved as he set his basket down, walking over to the automatic doors and standing in front of them for a moment. They didn’t budge and Noya wondered just how sensitive the alarm system was in the store. Tiredness fuzzed his vision for a moment as he looked over at the  darkened cash lanes and the covered deli section beyond. He’d realized they were closing soon and meant to only take a moment to grab after-work snacks but apparently he’d lingered over what type of salsa to buy for too long.

His basket lay abandoned as he hurried around the outside edge of the store until he came to the door of the back room. Noya wiggled, then pushed open the door, nibbling at his nails and he looked around the dark storeroom. his phone screen didn’t provide enough light to be worth anything so he backed out of the room with the hairs on the back of his neck bristling. At least the storefront had windows.

The sound of something metallic hitting the floor one aisle over drew a squeak from the short boy and he bolted through the swinging doors to the back room again. The chipped red paint was cold under his fingers as he pushed the door open just a crack, peering through it. A shadow stretched along the floor as someone moved, mumbling quietly. Blood rushed through Noya’s ears, making it impossible to make out any of the words. He missed the soft footsteps too, eyes glued to the shadow as it got darker and a person shrouded in the dark of the store came around the corner, head turning back and forth.

Noya took a moment to consider his options and then shoved the door open. The shadowed figure jumped and turned as the door banged, and Noya advanced on them fire in his eyes.

“What they hell do you think you’re doing in here? it’s closed! What are you, trying to rob the store?!”

“Wh-No! No, I just-- I-- I was--, wait,” The tall man stepped into the light spilling between alises as Noya stalked up to him, back hitting a shelf laden with goldfish crackers.

“It’s three in the morning!” Noya noted that while the man must have had at least a foot if not more on him but he was trembling and clutching the edge of the shelf he was leaning on for dear life.

“I-I know, I was, well I was in the.. the bathro--”

“Wait, do you work here?” The tall man blinked, eyebrows coming together as he was cut off.

“...You don’t work here?” He said, making Noya stop in his tracks.

“Um, No.”

They stared each other down for a long moment and the taller one slowly pushed off the shelf, righting himself and straightening his wrinkled t-shirt. Nothing could be done for the hair hanging out of the loose bun he had without taking it down and he seemed not to care as he regarded Noya.

“I’m a customer. I… well I guess they didn’t check the bathroom when they were closing and when I came out everything was dark and locked up.” He explained slowly, and Noya’s shoulders relaxed.

“You too? Well I mean, I was in the salsa and chips part and I guess they missed me somehow? I had my headphones in the the lights were off and I was like “Bwuah? that can’t be right” so I went looking for the office or something to see if a manager was still in, but the back room is like a black hole or something.” The other man blinked slowly as he tried to process Noya’s torrent of words, nodding slowly.

“Right… So… do you have your phone? maybe you could call someone to let us out?” He said after a moment. Noya perked, his hair bouncing slightly as he straightened his back. He brought his phone up and pressed the home button, looking at the time and freezing at the 1% looming at the corner of his screen.

“Aw hell, I don’t know if it will last through the--” The screen went black a moment later and Noya scowled, cursing himself for abusing 2048 and skype in the last hour of his shift at work, “Damn it.” The tall man frowned a bit, scrunching his shoulders up a bit and picking at his nails.

“I didn’t bring mine… I live two minutes away, I was just getting a snack since I was going to be up all night anyway.”

Noya eyed the taller man questioningly, seeing the bags under his eyes, “Are you at University or College or something?” The taller man nodded, rubbing a dark eye.

“Third year, university.”

“Oh, cool, I’m in second. I just got off work though so I wanted to get something to eat.”

“What’s your name?” Noya blinked at the question, then grinned a little.

“Haha, right, I’m Noya. You?”

“Asahi.” the two were quiet for a moment before Noya groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, making Asahi look up from the floor tile he’d been examining.

“I guess we’re stuck here till open? I have no idea how to work the phones at the counters…”

Asahi considered that for a moment, “I don’t know either.”

“So we’re here till what? eight?”  Asahi nodded a bit and Noya reached towards him, making Asahi flinch to the side a little, earning a raised eyebrow from the smaller boy as he picked up a bag of goldfish. Asahi flushed but didn’t address it, looking towards the front of the store.

“Maybe we should hide in the bathroom and just wait till they open and leave without bothering anyone…”

“Asahi, don’t be silly,” Noya noted the embarrassed downturn of the giant’s mouth, “They locked us in overnight. they should compensate us with a gift card or something.” Asahi looked mortified, swallowing a bit.

“I don’t want to cause trouble. No one who locked us in will be in the morning, so…” Noya shrugged at the half-mumbled protest, tearing into the bag of goldfish and looking up at his messy haired companion.

“Nah, its like, corporate responsibility or something you know? They messed the hell up so they can compensate us for the time they wasted.” Noya shoved the crackers into his mouth, heading down the aisle and back towards the abandoned basket. Asahi trailed after him with light steps, eyebrow raised.

“I doubt that a family run grocery store has “corporate responsibility” the way you’re thinking.” Asahi said dryly, prompting an eye roll from Noya.

“Well they locked two people in. Two!! that’s like, what? how does that ever happen? two separate people got locked in the same store on the same night. The employees are clearly doing something wrong.”

Asahi considered that as Noya plopped himself down next to an empty display that typically held fresh cut flowers and leaned against it. The bag of goldfish was set aside in favour of the tortilla chips and salsa that he’d put in his basket. The tall man regarded the other with some confusion, sitting slowly.

“I guess you’re right but… are you going to eat everything in the store?”

“Hah! I wish. But yeah, nah, I’m hungry, man. I can’t exactly pay for it right now so what can I do? I just got off work, man, I need food.”

“Yeah.” They sat in silence for a moment before Noya offered the open bag to the other and Asahi smiled just a bit, taking a chip.

“So what’s your major?” Noya asked.

“Well, business. I’m thinking about switching my major and minor though… I don’t really like it...” He took another chip and a liberal helping of salsa as he tucked some stray hairs behind his ear, “You?”

“I’m taking human kinetics!” Noya clenched his fist, grinning widely, “I want to get into athletic development, but I haven’t really decided on the specifics yet.”

“Its good you know so early. I really should have changed majors sooner, if I’m going to.”

“Yeah, I guess in third year its hard. like you may as well finish since you’re that far? but hey I mean, you should do what you like, right?” Asahi nodded a bit, glancing down and picking at a stray thread hanging off his pants.

Noya took a few minutes to take in his companion. He was folded up and hunched, leaning his elbows on his knees. His hoodie hung off him a bit, at least a size too big, which made Noya wonder where he shopped and was able to find sweaters even bigger than he was. Asahi looked up at him and the dark brown met Noya’s gold for a second before he looked back down.

“So uh, you’re pretty tall.”

Asahi glanced up at him again, this time with a raised eyebrow, “Yes.”

“Do you play sports?” Noya worried briefly that it may be a little rude to ask, but decided his stupid mouth had already said it and thus worrying was dumb.

“I uh, played volleyball for a while, before… uh, school… got intense.” Asahi sat a little taller.

“No way! I play volleyball too! I’m the libero for one of the intramural teams. What position did you play? you should come to practice some time.” Asahi looked Noya up and down, shrugging one shoulder.

“Oh, er, maybe. And I’m a wing spiker.”

“I’m not really surprised, I have to say. What are you, six one?”

“Oh, no, six foot even. These shoes make me look taller.” Noya nodded thoughtfully, sizing Asahi up.

“You know, our team could use another spiker…”

“Ah, well, um, no. Like I said, my school is intense right now, I really couldn’t commit…” Asahi shook his head, then spent another moment tucking hair out of the way.

“Its for fun mostly though! come to one practice at least.”

“Maybe.”

Noya was pleased enough with a maybe, looking around for a clock. His first instinct had been to check his phone for the time, before remembering it was as good as a brick was for telling time in its current state. His thoughts drifted for a moment, then he sat up a bit more, leaning towards Asahi.

“You said you were going to be up all night anyway? Do you have something due?”

Asahi blinked at the concern in Noya’s voice and smiled, shaking his head, “No, I just have a hard time turning my brain off sometimes.” He shrank a bit under the sudden intensity of Noya’s stare, raising his eyebrows a bit.

“Well! you should try and sleep now then, I’m good for another while!” This was a lie, as Noya could very clearly feel the six hour shift moving boxes starting to catch up with him. Asahi shook his head anyway.

“Thank you, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Hmm…” Noya shoved a handful of goldfish crackers into his mouth again, then looked towards the front door, “Do you know the time?”

Asahi looked at his watch, blinking slowly for a moment, “It’s almost four now.”

“Just like four more hours…” Noya mumbled, longing for his bed, “Do you think we should give the store phones a try?”

“If you want to. I’m not sure who we would call anyway?l the police, maybe? I’m not sure they could even do anything… It’s not like we actually know anyone who has the key to let us out.”

“A locksmith?” Noya suggested, and Asahi shook his head.

“How would we lock it back up again? that would probably set off the alarm too.”

Noya considered that, then blinked, “Well, we could try unlocking it from the inside and just waiting for the security? maybe they’d guard the door and we could go home.”

“Or they’ll arrest us because they don’t believe a word we say.”

Noya sighed, throwing his hands into the air, “Alright! we just wait around till we’re released from this food-filled prison!”

“Yes, exactly.” Asahi tried to keep a straight face, but broke into a little smile when Noya turned to look at him.

“I can’t tell if you’re being sincere or sarcastic.” Asahi laughed a little at that, shaking his head.

“I’m maybe joking a little, but I do honestly think that we should wait here for a few hours. I mean, there’s also that at this point we would probably be waking anyone we call up, and… it isn’t that much of a problem…”

“I dunno about you, Asahi, but I think being trapped somewhere is “that much” of a problem.”

Asahi shrugged, bringing his thumb up to his mouth and nibbling on the nail for a few moments. The shorter of the pair sighed, rubbing his face before looking into the empty bag of crackers for a second.

“Do you need to be somewhere? I mean, um, do you have something due? because if you have something like that I’m sure you could tell the professor and see if you can get an extra day…”

“Oh, no, I’m just tired after my shift at work I guess. it’s doing stock and backroom junk so there’s a ton of lifting and stuff. Plus, this giant of a kid just started and he managed to knock over three boxes of boxes of shoes and they all went like boosh! everywhere. it took like an hour and a half to sort them all into the right little shoe boxes again.”

“That sounds rough.” Asahi smiled sympathetically, tilting his head slightly as Noya nodded vigorously.

“It was! He’s still in training too so we couldn’t even tease him that hard.” He crossed his arms and huffed, leaning back slightly, “Bleh.”

“Well, hopefully he doesn’t do that again.”

“Mn! Definitely. If he does no one can stop me from saying something about it.”

“You could say he has two left shoes.” Asahi offered, making Noya stop and look at him questioningly. Asahi sat up a little straighter, “B-Because, you know, he dropped the shoes and… you had to sort them so-- um-- so like he has two left feet…”

There was a beat, and Asahi wilted a little before Noya laughed, slapping his forehead, “Oh! duh! that’s great, I’m totally going to use that.”

“If you think it was that funny!”

“Yeah!” Noya snickered a little more, shaking his head as they fell into a companionable silence for a few minutes. The short haired man took a moment to look at the other, please to see a small smile on Asahi’s cheeks. As he watched, Asahi took out his hair tie, shaking the long brown locks out and attempting to get them back into a neat bun.

“I’m thinking about grabbing something to drink. Do you want something?” Noya asked.

“Oh, yes, perhaps some apple juice…” Asahi nodded after a moment of thinking, letting his hair go.

“I could grab a big thing and we could share that.”

Asahi nodded, “Please. Should I stay by the door in case someone comes by?”

“Yeah! I’ll be just a second!”

Noya sprang up and walked around the corner, listening to the hum of freezers as he walked past them to the chilled juice section. Even knowing that Asahi was close by, that he wasn’t alone, a particular dread settled in Noya’s stomach as he hurried to grab a container of apple juice. Empty public places had such an air of desolation that Noya found himself jogging back to the front of the store.

“A.J. successfully attained.” He announced, mock bowing and offering Asahi the two liter bottle of juice.

“Thank you!” The long haired man seemed to perk a bit, cracking it open and sipping straight from the bottle, before offering it to Noya. He accepted it and sat again, sleep burning at the edges of his vision again.

“Man, I need something to keep me up or I’m going to sleep where I’m sittin’.”

“Well, Coke has caffeine in it if you need that.” Asahi offered helpfully. Noya looked at him and got the image of a very large puppy for a moment. He grinned.

“Well that’s hardly any fun now, isn’t it.” Noya said, taking in the bewildered eyebrow that Asahi raised at him.

“Okay?”

“What if we cart surfed?”

“I don’t know what that is but it sounds dangerous.”

Noya rolled his eyes at the immediate response, shaking his head and he kept a grin plastered to his cheeks, “Ah, so young. so cautious.”

“... Well I’m pretty sure I’m older than you, but okay.” Asahi watched the shorter man bound up and hold out a hand to him, which he accepted somewhat hesitantly. Noya felt a pang of jealousy as the timid man towered over him but paid it no mind as he started dragging Asahi over to the cart deposit.

“Okay, um, no, I am not sure--”

“Asahi its fiiine. Trust me.” Noya was certain that was all the taller man would need to be reassured of the fun that was about to occur.

“I really think that we should reconsider--” He was wrong, he realized as Asahi opened his mouth again.

“It is fine! Really, Asahi, it’s going to be so fun.” Noya released Asahi’s wrist and pulled out a full sized cart, pushing it out so it was facing the longest stretch in the store-- the aisle between the cash lines and the shopping area. it reached almost the entire way across the store-- save for the open area with the produce, bakery, and deli section. He took a moment to make sure that it was properly lined up, then turned to his large companion.

“Alright, get in.”

The horrified and scandalized expression on Asahi’s face was worth the thirty seconds of thought and preparation that went into this idea. Noya’s grin stretched to near cheek splitting levels as Asahi sputtered and flubbed his words, taking a step back.

“I-I am way too tall! I won’t fit! and this is dangerous!”

“Oh come on, I won’t push you too fast. Haven’t you ever done this before?” Noya’s eyes widened as Asahi shook his head quickly, “Well now you have to try! I promise I’ll go slow.”

Asahi still looked uncertain, “Well, I mean, you’re just going to push me in a cart?”

“Yep, we’ll go a little quicker because no one is here but you don’t need to worry!” Asahi looked between Noya and the cart, frowning a bit and rubbing the back of his neck. Noya could see him wavering, and turned on his own puppy dog eyes.

“I’ll be tons of fun, Asahi, please?” a small flush graced the taller man’s cheeks at the plea, and he sighed, looking to the left and considering for a few beats.

“Well… okay… just go slow.” He didn’t move for a second, but approached the cart when Noya gave him a little nudge. The golden eyed man grabbed onto the handle to keep the cart steady as Asahi tried to find the most graceful way into the shopping cart.

Finally he pulled himself up, wobbling once one leg got over the edge and started pulling the other very long leg in as well. He yelped a bit when the cart tipped but Noya kept it from falling, still grinning as Asahi sat heavily on the grated bottom. His knees were almost up to his ears from being folded up in the tiny cage and Noya laughed, pulling the kid seat in so that Asahi had a little more room.

“How’s that?”

“I’m in, I suppose…” Asahi was already wary-- Noya could hear the apprehension in his voice. So, before Asahi could change his mind and start climbing out of the cart, Noya started pushing, starting a slow trot.

“How long has it been since you were in one of these huh?” He asked, excited and starting to run faster.

“U-Um, I don’t remember-- oh my god please slow down a bit!”

“We’re not going that fast!” Noya took the corner at the end of the long aisle and started down the frozen section, speeding up a little. Asahi’s hands clutched at the edges of the cart, and they swerved around a display of cookies that was in the middle of the alsie, blasting down and around the next corner.

“Noya! It seems way faster in here!” Noya laughed, hopping up on the bottom bar and letting the cart glide for a moment. He dropped one foot down to push, like the cart was a giant scooter.

“I’ve got you Asahi, I used to do this stuff all the time!” They turned again, almost back to their starting point. Noya realized a second too late that there was another display in the aisle he chose to turn down and yelped.

They crashed into the table covered in various brands of chocolate bars, knocking several of them to the floor with the force. They had just turned so the the crash wasn’t at full force, though Noya had tipped forward over the handlebar and nearly into Asahi’s lap. Asahi was squirming, head pressed under his chest.

“Bah!!! who puts a display in the middle of the store like this!” He cried as he tried to right himself. Asahi’s hands came up and helped push him back, and he looked down at the flustered passenger in his cart.

“P-People who assume that no one is going to ride carts like this?” The dry response was softened by the red face and messed up hair on Asahi’s head.

“Hm. good point.” Noya rubbed his chin, then looked down at Asahi again, “D’y’wanna switch now?”

“Switch?”

“Yeah! I want a ride too, Asahi!”

The brunet stared at the grinning man standing over him for a moment, then started laughing, covering his eyes with the back of his hand. Noya blinked a bit at him.

“Hey, what’s so funny?” Noya said leaning over him a bit more.

“N-Nothing! Nothing bad, it’s just. I dunno, I’m really tired, wow.” Asahi sputtered out as he settled his laughter, looking up at Noya with his dark eyes. Noya blinked again, feeling his cheeks heat up for a second before he grinned.

“Well, tired or not, I get a turn too you know.”

“Alright, just uh, give me a second to get out of this thing.” He started to unfold himself, wobbling like a deer on ice. Noya dutifully held the cart as steady as he could, watching Asahi carefully step out and onto the ground, then hop ungracefully to free the other leg. They took a minute to pick of the things they had knocked over, then Noya vaulted into the cart, grinning.

“Let’s go!”

“Alright, Alright!” Asahi pulled the cart back a bit, then steered it around the display and turned back onto the main stretch, “How fast do you want to go?”

“Punch it!” Noya demonstrated a punch to the air above his head, and Asahi shook his head with a smile.

“Well, I’ll make sure we don’t crash this time.” He started a trot which was very clearly not fast enough for Noya. They did a lap around the store, Noya urging Asahi to go a little faster on each stretch. They tore around the corner to the front of the store, both laughing. Asahi was about to adjust their course when he felt his foot slip out from behind him on the slick tile and he made a surprised sound as he went down, letting go of the cart and hitting the ground.

“Asahi?!” Noya yelled, turning to look back just before the cart slammed into one of the security stands at the front of the store. Noya jerked forward and back with an oof. There were a few beats of silence, then the alarm starting blaring and both men jerked up, scrambling to put their feet on the ground properly and looking at the flashing lights in horror. They looked at each other, then back to the lights.

“Oh god I’m going to be thrown in Jail.” Asahi breathed, and Noya shook his head.

“No, no, it’ll be fine! They’ll see on the security cameras we weren’t doing anything bad!”

“What about the stuff we ate?! that’s shoplifting isn’t it?”

“Asahi, there is no way we could have paid for it.”

“Oh this is so bad. this is so so bad.” He hid his face in his hands, and Noya took a moment to put the cart away and tidy up the things they had been snacking on.

“A security guard will be here soon, its okay, Asahi. I can take the heat.”

“That… That’s nice of you, Noya, but I don’t think you can…? I’m here too.” They both looked up as a security guard knocked on the glass door they were standing in front of, getting their attention. They looked at each other again, then at the guard. Noya waved a bit, as the guard unlocked the door and let himself in.

“What the hell are you two doing in here?” He demanded over the blaring alarm.

“We got stuck in here, we were locked in.” Noya said, swallowing.

“What, they did it again? for christs sake. Alright both of you out, I’m going to turn off the alarm. Wait right by the door.” They shuffled out, waiting by an empty flower stand as the guard vanished into the store. When Noya looked up at Asahi he realized the man was trembling a little, almost on the verge of tears.

“Hey, did you hear that? he said that the employees have done this before, so we don’t have to worry.”

“I know, I just… I’m not good with… this kind of thing.” Asahi scrubbed his face, then smiled a little at Noya, “Thank you for doing the talking.”

“Aw, it’s nothing, Asahi.” The guard came out before Asahi could respond, sizing the two of them up.

“Alright, give me your contact information. I’ll have the owner get in touch with you two in the morning.” He pulled out a small note pad and a pen, giving them each a moment to write down their name and numbers.

“If they want us to pay for the th-things we ate--” Asahi started but the guard waved him off.

“Just go home, and get some sleep, both of you. I’ve got to wait for the security system rep.” The two men looked at each other then turned away, starting off in the same direction. Noya shoved his hands in his pockets, glancing at Asahi, then down. He thought he could see the taller man glance at him too, but wasn’t sure.

“You live near by right?” Noya asked.

“Ah, yes, just a block that way.” He paused, then looked at Noya, “If you wanted to come and charge your phone for a little bit, you could.”

“Aw man really?! because I’ve got like a forty minute bus ride home. Thanks!” Asahi smiled a little bashfully and nodded. The idea of that arduous bus ride without a source of music was enough to send shivers down Noya’s spine. He’d probably pass out from exhaustion and boredom.

“Its no problem, Noya.”

Noya looked at Asahi, flushing a little at the sound of his own name as he was pulled out of his musings. Dark eyes met his for a moment and Noya was struck by the way the light from the streetlamp lit them up as they passed under it.  The only thing on his mind was “Uh oh” when his heart beat a little quicker at the little smile on Asahi’s face as he turned to lead the way to his building.

“It’s the first one around this corner,” he said said softly, and Noya nodded a bit, rubbing his chest and smiling as they made their way through the door. The rickety stairs loomed up, giving the short man pause.

“This has to be some kind of violation.” He said with wonder, taking in the way each stair seemed to sag to a different level and slope, as if weighed down by the ancient blue carpet.

“Probably. The building is over a century old, and it’s a student building now…” Asahi admitted, “But the apartment itself is nice.”

  
He started up the stairs and Noya waited a moment to follow, alarmed by the groan of wood each stair made as they ascended to the very top. The door was as old as the stairs, by Noya’s estimation, but it had a fresh coat of white paint, free from the smudges of age. Noya raised his eyes from the stair he was perched on as Asahi opened the door. 


	2. Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which pancakes happen.

Noya cracked his eyes open when the warmth under the blanket he’d been tucked under became too much for him to sleep through. He briefly enjoyed the moment of complete comfort and warmth before he wondered where the hell he was in a sleepy haze. He turned his head lazily at the sound of a mug being put on the table, seeing Asahi curled up on an armchair that looked too small for him. 

Asahi looked up from the textbook he’d been reading when Noya stretched a little, making a pleased sound. He smiled a little, giving Noya some time to wake up and bookmarking his reading, setting it lightly on the end table. 

“Good morning.” He said softly, sounding like he wasn’t sure that Noya was actually awake. The incoherent grunt that could be a response didn’t convince him. The shorter man whined, turning and pressing his face into the couch cushion and pulling the blanket over his head. A skinny jean-clad leg poked out from under the cocoon that Noya was wrapping himself up in, and Asahi laughed a bit.

“It’s about ten thirty, if you need to be somewhere.” 

Noya lifted the blanket enough to expose one golden eye, squinting slightly, “It’s before noon still?” 

Asahi nodded in response, taking another sip of his tea. Noya grunted thoughtfully, slowly emerging from under the blanket and rubbing his eyes. The blond chunk of his hair flopped into his eyes limply and he blinked at it a bit. He sighed, ruffling his own hair and hoping his bedhead wasn’t too out of control. 

“Did you sleep well?” 

Noya took a moment to process, then smiled, “Yeah man, like the dead. Did you sleep at all?” Asahi looked a little bashful, rubbing one of the bags under his eyes.

“Well, no.” He laughed lightly and Noya felt himself pull a weird face, “It’s not a big deal.” 

“How long have you been awake?” 

Asahi considered the question, sipping his tea, “Probably longer than is strictly reasonable.” 

“Way to dodge the question!” Noya laughed, hopping off the couch. Asahi shrugged, throwing back the last few dregs in his cup.

“Yes, well. Would you like something to eat?” 

“Hell yeah! also I want your number so you can come to volleyball!”

“Oh, right…” Asahi seemed to hesitate, before reaching for a notebook and pen sitting beside his textbook and jotted the number down. He tore it out and handed it to noya who looked down. The characters on the page looked like they would have usually been neat, but Asahi was just a little past caring.  
“Would you like to put your number in my phone?” Noya nodded, shoving the paper into his pocket as Asahi handed him the ancient android. The brick of an iphone still sat lifelessly in Noya’s pocket, kept slumbering thanks to incompatible chargers.

He took a moment, muttering the letter he was typing in before looking up and smiling at Asahi “There you go!” Asahi took it with a smile and looked at it to confirm, blinking a little.

“Nishinoya Yu?”

“Oh, yeah, haha, Noya’s my nickname.” Asahi nodded thoughtfully.

“In any case, I’ll make some food for us.” 

He got up, vanishing around the corner to walk down the hall to the kitchen. Noya took a moment to take in the room that had seemed a blur last night when they’d arrived. Sunlight filtered in from the windows on each side of the room, making the scuffs and chipped paint seem less noticeable. Everything in the room seemed to have an air of being well worn; The couch sagged a bit, the carpets looked to be older than anyone currently living in the student building, and the radiator had several coats of chipped paint but it was all clean and bright. 

Noya stood and stretched, walking over to the large window and door on the far side of the room that overlooked the parking lot and wooden balcony. Each apartment on that side of the building shared a wooden staircase that stretched into a landing for the residents to use as a balcony. He gulped a little at the sight of the stairs, spotting an almost completely rotted out board and wondering what kind of building inspector would certify either of the staircases in this building as safe. 

“Do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes?” Noya jumped and turned, seeing Asahi standing in the door with a mixing bowl in hand.

“Yeah! the more the better.” He grinned, following Asahi out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Sounds good!” He said, chuckling a little and throwing a handful of chips into the batter. Noya leaned against the counter, sticking a hand in his rumpled jean pocket.

“Do you have class today?”

“Ah, no, I have fridays off thankfully.”

“Lucky! I have class at two thirty. speaking of, can I borrow paper and a pen to take notes? It’s like… way too far to bus home and back and home again after just for my notebook.”

Asahi nodded a bit, pouring some batter onto a pan, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, “Of course, just remind me before you go.”

Noya hummed and looked out the kitchen window, “Awesome. How far from campus are we?” 

“Only a ten minute walk or so… though, I have long legs, so maybe fifteen for you?” Noya huffed, crossing his arms.

“Oi, I’m not THAT short! I walk fast you know!” He said, mock-petulant. 

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that or anything…”

Noya laughed a little, “Yeah, I know.” Asahi looked back at him, face a little red, but relaxed when he saw that Noya seemed unbothered.

“ What class do you have today?” He turned back to the stove, flipping the pancakes and pleased to see they were the right balance of golden brown and paleness. 

“Oh! Intro to sport and exercise psychology. It’s pretty neat actually, since I’ve done sports for so long that I can totally see the concepts and how they’re like, accurate as heck to my old high school team.” 

“That does sound neat,” Asahi said a little absently as he lifted the edge of his creation a little to check and see if it was done, “is it your favourite class?”

“Nah, but it’s up there.” Noya perked up as Asahi slid the four pancakes smoothly onto a plate, looking pleased.

“Are just two okay? I can make you more if you need, but I figured two each…”

“Dude, yes, gimmie them please!” Asahi chuckled at Noya’s exuberance, moving two of them to a second plate and handing them to Noya and nodding to the table. Noya bounced over and sat as Asahi moved around the table to get to the fridge, retrieving butter, maple syrup and strawberry jam.

They both sat and tucked into their food, quiet for a time. Noya watched Asahi out of the corner of his eye, noting the contemplative look on his face. They both jumped at the sound of a door slamming closed and heavy footsteps heading towards the kitchen.

Asahi said “oh!” softly as he turned, seeing one of his roommates come through the doorway. The broad shouldered man blinked a little, rubbing his eye and looking from Asahi to Noya.

“Good morning, Daichi.” He said a little timidly. Daichi grunted in response, walking over to the counter and grabbing a banana before turning back to the seated pair.

“Who’s this?” He asked, glancing at Noya, half-curious, half-annoyed.

“Oh, this is--” Asahi started.

“I’m Noya!” 

“W-we met last night by chance. It’s a bit of a strange story…” Asahi seemed a little shy, making Noya grin.

“If by strange you mean hilarious.”

Daichi’s eyebrows were both raised as he took a bite of his food, “Mhmm…” 

“I’m sorry if we woke you.” 

“No, it’s fine, you didn’t,” Daichi yawned, “I was at the Gym early and was just napping before class anyway. Watch it though.” He said warningly, but the tiny smile playing at the corner of his lips took the bite out of the threat. Asahi gulped anyway.

“Did Suga go with you?” He asked, voice shaking a little.

“I heard my name!” A silver haired youth poked his head into the room as well, grinning.

“I think that answers your question.” Daichi said, tossing his banana peel and washing his hands as Asahi’s other roommate walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Asahi! Sleep last night?” Suga glanced at Noya then fixed his brown eyes on Asahi’s alarmed face.

“Of course.”

“But--” Noya started but Asahi’s eyes snapped to him and he stopped, but the damage had been done.

“Asahi, you’re lying to my face and that hurts me.” Suga leaned in close, making the taller man sink in his chair.

“I’m just not tired, Suga.” 

The silver haired man let out a huge sigh, shaking his head in exasperation, “Alright, alright, but at least try and rest at some point this weekend.”

“Yeah, Asahi, Volleyball is on Sunday--” Noya stopped as both of Asahi’s roommate’s head swiveled to look at Noya with intense states.

“Volleyball?” they said, almost perfectly in unison.

“Yeah!!! They started up an intramural league a little bit ago, do you guys play too?” Suga hid a smile behind the back of his hand, exchanging a look with an equally amused Daichi.

“You could say that!” Suga said in a sing song voice, going into the fridge.

Asahi sighed and shook his head a little, “Daichi is captain of the school volleyball team, and Suga is on it too. He’s the Setter.” Noya’s eyes lit up, hopping up.

“Oh man! That! That’s so Gwoahh!!! I wanted to try out but my classes were over all the practices! I’m a Libero!” The kitchen was suddenly filled with the chatter of three passionate sportsmen and Asahi trying to keep his mouth full any time the conversation turned towards him. Finally, the two older boys had to bolt out the front door for class, leaving Noya and Asahi alone in the kitchen again.

“They seem awesome Asahi!” the tall man laughed a little as he took away the plates and rinsed them off.

“Please don’t tell them I said so, but they are generally. They’re both a bit scary in their own ways.” 

Noya hummed a bit, looking at the stove’s clock, “Fair enough. I still have like an hour before I have to head out though. unless you want me to go early so you can sleep?”

“Oh, no you can stay for now. I’ll put on some tea.” Asahi busied himself with that, and Noya found his eyes drawn to the loose bun bobbing on the back of Asahi’s head as he worked. 

The hour pass amicably, and finally Noya jumped up with flourish, “Alright the time has come. I’ll text you as soon as I charge my phone up okay? now that I know everyone you know is apparently into volleyball you can’t get out of anything.” 

“...You sounded a little bit like Daichi.” Asahi mumbled, looking slightly concerned. Noya laughed and shrugged.

“The man clearly knows what he’s talking about then! You’ll be good for sunday?”

Asahi hesitated, but smiled a little as he looked down, “I should be. hopefully well rested and everything.”

“Awesome!” Asahi stood up towering over Noya as they walked across the hall to the front door, “It’s at the school gym, three pm.”

“I won’t forget.”

“Do you want to meet up beforehand?” Asahi blinked a bit as the question, and Noya felt his cheeks redden slightly.

“Oh, like… get food or something?”

Noya nodded, “Or coffee, or whatever.”

“Okay, um… sure.”

“Cool! Well. See you then! I’ll text you when I can, like I said, bye!” Noya hurried himself out of the apartment, half sliding down the stairs and pressing his back to the outermost door of the ancient apartment building as soon as he was in the crisp october air. 

“Oh man.” He muttered to himself and started a brisk pace towards campus. His heart beat a little faster than it really should be and he started to worry when he imagined Asahi’s sleepy smile again.

“Ohhh man…” The pain of not being able to text anyone became acute as Noya sat through his lecture, reviewing the events from the last twelve or so hours of his life. He fidgeted and half listened his way through the three hour lecture, ignoring the fact that he had to wait another forty five minutes to get home until he was waiting at the bus stop.

\--

Tanaka looked over his shoulder as Noya burst through the door to their apartment, pausing his game of grand theft auto. He raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the ratty blue couch they had gotten for free from the previous tenants.

“Ryu, you would not believe. You just. The last like day of my life has been so whahhh? like where do I even start.” 

“Bro, you start by sitting your ass down and telling me.” The grey eyed man grinned, slapping the couch cushion beside him.

“‘kay, just let me throw my phone on the charger.” Noya vanished around the corner into his room, then returned and sat heavily next to his roommate.

“Are you wearing the same thing as yesterday?”

Noya blinked, a little impressed that Tanaka had noticed, “That’s part of the story, Ryu,” He nodded in understanding, waiting for Noya to continue, “Okay so, after work last night I went to grab some snacks for the ride home, and the bastard running the store locked me in. It was so spooky like, wow.”

“No way. How long were you in there for?”

“Oh, maybe two hours? but that’s not the important part. I wasn’t the only one locked in there!”

“Okay, actually no way.”

“Ryu, I’m telling the truth. His name is Asahi. Anyway so we spent like two hours hanging out then he let me crash on his couch because it was like four thirty in the morning when we accidentally set off the alarm and got let out by a security guard. Then he made pancakes in the morning. And he’s into volleyball.” Noya felt himself talking faster and faster until he made himself stop, hoping his friend wouldn’t notice how flustered he was.

Tanaka rubbed his chin thoughtfully, nodding along as Noya talked, “Always good. you invite him to volleyball this Sunday?”

“Duh.”

“Hmmmmm, so what, you made a cool new friend or...” Tanaka leaned in close to Noya’s face, grinning deviously, “something else…”

Ignoring the shit eating grin, Noya said, “Well, I dunno! he is uh, y’know good looking and really nice and he’s got long hair…” Noya’s eyes glazed over a little as he remembered staring at the back of Asahi’s head. A hunger pang also announced itself as he remembered he hadn’t eaten anything but those pancakes since waking up.

“Uh huh.” Tanaka pulled back and unpaused his game, thinking, “I dunno man if it were me and I saw a cute honey who was into volleyball and was nice to me, I’d at least try to get to know ‘em a bit then as ‘em out right?”

“Right. Yeah. I uh… kinda asked if he wanted to go out to lunch before we went to volleyball.”

“And he said yes?” Tanaka glanced over to see Noya nod, “Well dude, that’s a good sign if I ever saw one.”

“Do you think we could skype Saeko and see if she’d help me pick something to wear?” 

“What, am I not good enough to help?”

“Absolutely not.” Noya laughed as he elbowed his friend, who grumbled in mock-outrage and elbowed back at him as he drove in-game.

“And here I thought we were friends, brothers, partners in crime!”

“We are but you wear like five shirts and one of them is a jersey.”

“That’s fair.” Tanaka said, laughing as he crashed into a police helicopter and blew up. They sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes as Tanka restarted the section of the game he was on.

“How tall is he.” Noya blinked at the question, eyeing his friend suspiciously.

“I guess about six feet tall.” Tanaka hummed, grinning to himself but not pushing the question further.

“Why?”

The innocent face Tanaka tried to pull as he mowed down civilians with a machine gun in game made Noya narrow his eyes more, “Why what?”

“Hmmmm…” Noya said, getting up off the couch, “Alright, well, I need to do some laundry and take a nap. I only slept like three hours.”

“Yeah, on Asahi’s couch~!” Tanaka made obnoxious kissy sounds and Noya laughed.

“What is this? Should I bring up your embarrassing high school crush or--” 

"Alright, alright no need for that." Tanaka said quickly, not wanting to relive that particular embarrassment, “But just remember it’s not high school anymore, Yu. We’re getting too old and mature for these silly crushes you speak of. we have “things for” people now.”

“Hey I mean, if you call playing GTA all day in your boxers mature that’s your bag.”

“GTA is a very refined game. I mean look, I just blew up a tank with a rocket launcher.”

Noya laughed, shaking his head as he walked into his room, taking a moment to turn on his phone. It took a few minutes to load up so he put it down and dumped the last dregs of clean laundry from his hamper onto his bed and started refilling it with the dirty laundry scattered around the room. He looked up as his phone buzzed and dropped what he was doing to check the message with hands that shook ever so slightly.

"I hope you got home in one piece. thank you for keeping me company. :)" Noya whooped when he read the words, punching the air victoriously and excitedly typing a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to [ZouZa ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ZouZa) for beta reading for me!  
> Writing Playlists:  
> http://8tracks.com/pitcest/as-long-as-you-re-here  
> http://8tracks.com/emdufromage/electro-swing  
> http://8tracks.com/fastingpylades/we-will-fly-a-g-a-i-n
> 
> Thank you for reading! please kudos and comment if you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear what everyone thought.


	3. Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi nibbled on his bottom lip, looking from the time to his empty notification tray and up at the bus stop. The wind kicked up for a moment and Asahi sighed, leaning against a wall and checking his phone again.

When Asahi opened his eyes on sunday morning, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, tinting his room a soft pink. He sat up and yawned, looking out the window next to his bed. He shook his head a bit, eyes drawn to his window as he blinked slowly, wondering why he had woken up before his alarm. 

The door to the room beside his slammed closed and he hummed, hearing the familiar footsteps of Suga and Daichi in the hall, weighted down by the gym bags he assumed were slung over their shoulders. Asahi yawned again, sinking back into bed after picking up his phone from where it was charging on the beaten up bedside table. He watched the black lines of his eyelids droop over his vision as he looked at the dim screen of his phone. The clock at the tops right corner of his phone told him it was just past five am, and Asahi wondered how his roommates managed to both get up before dawn consistently. 

They probably wake each other up, he thought, smiling a little and checking his calendar. The last vestiges of sleepiness vanished as he remembered that he had agreed to meet with Noya.

“Oh god.” He groaned, pulling a pillow over his face to try and calm the sudden flush that threatened to take over his entire head. He spent some time cursing his roommates for waking him and giving him so much time to agonize over the coming hours between the lunch date and quarter after five in the morning.

Asahi spent some time debating whether or not it was too early to text Noya about meeting, before deciding that yes, any time before eight am was probably too early. He dragged himself out of bed, padding to the bathroom then to the kitchen. It was as Asahi stared contemplatively into a bowl of oatmeal that Suga burst back into the apartment, grinning and looking like he jogged back from the gym.

“Asahi! Good morning!” Suga practically sang, kicking the door shut with an ominous thud.

“Good morning, Suga...”

“Did you make extra oatmeal? I’m starving.” Asahi nodded and gestured to the stove as he took a bite of his own meal. Suga helped himself and slid into the chair across from Asahi, eyes bright.

“So, now that you’ve gotten some sleep, who was that on friday?”

Asahi regarded his roommate and long time friend with eyes narrowed a few degrees, “A new friend, I suppose.”

“Pretty close, pretty fast if you invited him over already!”

“Well… we met because we were both locked into Ukai’s grocery after close together, and because it was so late it seemed like the right thing to do… letting him sleep over. He lives far away so...”

“Wow, they’re really bad for that at that grocery store, huh.” Asahi nodded as Suga rubbed his chin, stirring brown sugar into his oatmeal, “In any case, are we ever going to see him again?”

“Huh?” 

“Well, I mean, we moved into this apartment together like a so long ago and you’ve literally never brought anyone over to hang, soooo…” 

“So?” Asahi said, leaning forward a little so his long hair obscured his face.

“So, I’m saying your social life is lacking.”

“Well… I am going… to see him today before seeing his volleyball practice.” Asahi felt his nose wrinkle as he frowned, poking at his food. Suga perked up, grinning widely and leaning in to see Asahi’s face a little better.

“Oh yeah, he was talking about that wasn’t he. What was his name again? I wanna look him up on facebook.”

Asahi sputtered, looking up as his silver haired roommate, “Suga, is that really necessary?” Amber eyes met Asahi’s brown over the phone Suga had produced from a pocket, poised to search Noya’s name on every social media outlet he could find.

“Yes.”

The taller man hid his face in his hands and relented, spelling out Noya’s name for Suga. He hummed happily, shoving another spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth and staring at his phone as Asahi coaxed himself out of his hands to eat.

“Hmm, he seems chill but I want to meet him again before you get my blessing.”

“Suga, I thought you just said my social life was lacking? why do I need your blessing?” Asahi said, raising his eyebrows a little.

“Just because your social life is sad doesn’t mean you should fill it with bad friends!” A glint in Suga’s eyes made the taller man squirm, but he tilted his head slightly, raising a sardonic eyebrow.

“Maybe I should start with getting rid of that Suga character then.” 

Suga blinked and grinned, “Asahi, I’m offended. Daichi should clearly be the first one to go.” 

They both laughed a bit and lapsed into a companionable silence as they both worked on finishing their food and Suga stared hard at his phone. It occurred to Asahi that he hadn’t even looked up Noya on facebook. He nibbled his lip a bit, looking up at Suga’s face. 

“So… he’s on facebook?”

“Mhmm…” Suga glanced at him for a moment before returning his gaze to his phone, an unreadable smile on his face. Asahi wrinkled his nose and glanced at the stove’s clock, relieved to see it was edging into reasonable texting time.

He sent off a quick message to Noya, saying “Hey, where did you want to meet for lunch? Campus at noon, right?” and pocketed his phone to get up and do the dishes from his meal. Suga slipped his bowl into the sink and grinned as he bolted from the room, throwing a “Thank you, Asahi!” over his shoulder and retreating to his bedroom.

Dishes done, Asahi went to his room and stared into his closet, swallowing. He pulled out his phone to check what the weather was going to be like, blinking when he saw that he had a text message from Noya waiting for him.  
“Theres a pub real close to campus! lets go there. can u meet me at the bus stop so we can walk there together?” Asahi nearly dropped the phone when he read what Noya had said fumbling with the phone and feeling himself sweat a little bit.

He licked his lips and carefully typed out, “No problem. you’ll be there by noon?” Asahi spent a few moments considering whether or not to add another smiling emote, but decided against it and sent the message. He re-read the text another three times after hitting send and pocketed his phone, deciding that it was fine, and turning back to his closet.

With great care, Asahi laid out a pair of jeans and a button down, deciding that it was best to keep it simple. He hummed a bit, looking at the outfit he’d put on the bed. After a moment he snapped his fingers, turning back to his closet and retrieving a green pullover. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, seeing the affirmative text from Noya and nodding to himself, grabbing a towel and heading to shower and finish getting ready.

The rest of the morning crawled by until it was finally time for Asahi to leave, and he tried to tiptoe past Suga’s room. The floorboards threatened to creak with each step he took, but Asahi moved as if through water, weighed down by the fear of seeing silver hair before he made it out of the apartment. He made it to the front door before Suga’s bedroom door swung open and the grinning man stuck his head out.

“Headin’ out Asahi?”

“Y-yeah! I’ll be back later today.” He blurted, immediately ringing his hands as his roommate slinked out of his room.

“Have fun!” Suga grinned as he spoke, making Asahi worry he was missing something fundamental.

“I will…”

“Oh and invite him back over after. I want to meet him when you’re not an insomniac mess.” Asahi flushed a bit and nodded, hurrying through the door and locking it behind him in the hopes of keeping Suga contained. He shivered a little, wondering how Suga managed to be so cheerful and terrifying. 

Pushing the building door open and stepping into the autumn air made his lips quirk up at the corners and he paused to inhale deeply before walking toward the hill that stood between him and the main campus. Leaves were starting to decay into bright splashes of orange and red and Asahi pulled his jacket a little tighter around himself.

The street gave from residential to academic in the span of one intersection, and the lifeless aura of a school on sunday took over as Asahi walked past the parking garage. He heaved a sigh, turning down an empty pedestrian walkway and glancing at the apartment style dorm windows. A few smiling cardboard cutouts of celebrities stood sentry behind the glass, smiling out at the nearly empty path. Asahi shook his head and turned again, approaching the campus bus station. 

It occurred to him that he had no idea which direction Noya would be coming from, so he elected to hang back by the buildings, pulling his phone from his pocket. Asahi nibbled on his bottom lip, looking from the time to his empty notification tray and up at the bus stop. The wind kicked up for a moment and Asahi sighed, leaning against a wall and checking his phone again.

A bus passed on the other side of the street, making Asahi perk up a bit. It took a moment before pulling away to reveal two people- a tall blond and a dark haired companion. Neither were Noya. Asahi sighed, checking his phone to remind himself that it was still five minutes before the younger man was to arrive. Another bus growled to a stop on the other side of the street and Asahi swallowed when it pulled away and Noya was still no where is sight.

He nibbled on his thumb nail, checking his phone once again and wondering if he'd gotten the time or day wrong. Asahi pulled up Noya's text thread, glancing up as a bus pulled up on his side of the road before reading the texts made to decide on where to meet. He checked the date, relieved to see that it seemed accurate enough. It didn't seem reasonable for Noya to invite him out too far in advance, he reasoned, still chewing his nail and he double checked the day again.

“Morning!" Asahi nearly leapt out of his skin, looking up to see a grinning noya standing before him, hands shoved in his jacket pockets.

"O-oh, I'm sorry. Good morning."

“Ready to grab some food?” 

Asahi nodded, a bit flushed as he tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket, “Yes…” Noya started off at the response, retracing part of Asahi’s path before turning to follow another street.

“So, do you eat out around here a lot?” Noya said, looking up at Asahi.

“U-um, not a lot, really. My roommates and I do go out once a week together, though.”

“They seemed like cool guys!” 

“Yeah, when they’re not being menaces.” He grumbled out, making Noya laugh. Asahi smiled at him, glancing down as the shorter shook his head. 

“Well at least you’ve got good roommates. A friend of mine got a really horrible one and they fight all the time. Its just dorms though, so he’s just suckin’ it up until the end of the semester.”

“Ah… Yes, I was lucky because the three of us actually knew each other beforehand and moved here together so I never had to worry about dorms or people I didn’t know.” 

“Dude, I’d be jealous if I didn’t basically do the same thing.” Noya said, drawing a curious glance from the taller man, “My friend Ryu and I moved into dorms together because we knew each other online beforehand. it was so sick.” 

“Oh wow! That would be um, very ill.” 

Noya threw his head back and laughed as they got to the pub, taking a minute to recompose himself as Asahi felt his cheeks heat up. Noya shook his head and exhaled with only a little chuckle, turning to the long haired man.

“Very ill.” He repeated, breaking into another fit of giggles as he lead Asahi into the rustic style bar.

Asahi glanced around as Noya greeted the hostess, taking in the rustic decor of the pub. It was clearly well worn by the thousands of students that had passed through its rooms over the years. Asahi looked at Noya as he turned, motioning for Asahi to follow. They sat at a table tucked up against a stained glass window and the hostess passed them their menus and cutlery before vanishing towards the front of the house again.

“I can’t believe I haven’t been here before. It’s so close to campus.” Asahi said softly, dropping eyes to the menu to avoid Noya’s golden stare.

“Eh, happens.” Noya said, waving hand dismissively as he browsed the menu he was clearly familiar with, “I come here with Ryu a lot.”

“Yeah?”

“We… both aren’t huge fans of cooking.” He admitted with a sheepish grin, making Asahi chuckle.

“Lots of ramen and canned soup?”

“Yeeep.” They both laughed a little, smiling at each other over the menus before Asahi dropped his eyes back to it shyly. 

They lapsed into a companionable silence until the server took their orders with a probably illegal amount of pep. Asahi glanced up after looking at the table for a moment, accidentally meeting Noya’s eyes and averting his gaze with a nervous smile.

“So you said you and your roommate met online?” 

“Oh, yeah! Me ‘n Ryu go way back. We’ve been gaming together for a long time, like… I guess early high school? And we both decided and applied to this school without even mentioning it. Then we both got accepted and told each other and went like “gwoooah!” and we decided to be roommates.” Noya nodded twice, eyes serious.

“That worked out unbelievably well.”

“Hell yeah it did. What about Daichi and Suga?”

Asahi blinked a bit, “What about them?”

“How come you three ended up here?” Noya tilted his head, bangs flopping into his eyes a little before being brushed away.

“Oh! Well… we were lucky it worked out that way too I guess. We… Well, we all came here to join the volleyball team, but I didn’t stick with it.” Asahi looked down, picking a bit at the napkin wrapped around his utensils. 

“Mn, well, happens! You’re almost done the school thing at least and you can get back to stuff once things chill out.” 

Asahi looked up at Noya, a little surprised, “Y-yeah… once things chill out.”

He smiled after a moment, glancing at the bright stained glass and nodding half an inch. He rubbed the scruff on his jaw before looking back up and Noya, who had turned to the server as she put their plates on the table, thanking her graciously.

“Man! The food here looks great as always!” Noya exclaimed, digging right into his burger as Asahi started on his pasta dish. The taller man tried to keep his hand from shaking slightly as they ate, carefully avoiding Noya’s eyes and failing a little. There was something that drew Asahi in, making him watch to watch the way Noya’s eyes crinkled when he smiled.

“Are you excited to check out the intramural league today?” Noya asked around a mouthful of sweet potato fries, jolting Asahi from his thoughts.

He considered the question for a long moment, rubbing his jaw again, “Yes, I think so. A bit nervous.” He confessed, feeling as if nervous was a little too gentle of a word for the uproarious anxiety pounding at the back of his head.

“Worried about getting back into it after a while?” 

“I… W-Well, yes, but… yeah, that’s mostly it, I think.” Asahi stammered, forcing out his words and promptly shutting his mouth as his cheeks burned.

“Try not to! it’s like riding a bike. No one can forget how to volleyball.” Noya said firmly, then paused, trying to figure out his own sentence before nodding in acceptance.

“I sure hope so.” Asahi said with a soft chuckle, pushing a noodle around his plate and leaning his chin on his hand, “What is the rest of the team like?”

“Loud! and mostly younger for some reason? I guess because its new, mostly first years latched onto my team at least.”

“You’re the captain?” 

Noya blanched a little, “Well… Kind of but not at the same time? There’s a cocky first year setter who yells a lot so I guess he kind of is? But also he definitely isn’t because he’s got a head the size of uranus. And by that I mean his head is shoved up his OWN anus.” 

Asahi snorted the drink of water he was taking, pulling it away and covering his mouth as he tried to laugh and swallow at the same time. Noya looked both alarmed and smug about his joke causing the reaction.

“I-I’m sorry, I just… I know the type you mean exactly.” Asahi said as soon as he got the situation under control, laughing a little again.

“Heh, no problem, no problem. But yeah! he’s all bark and no bite anyway, and mostly yells at one of the other first years.” Asahi nodded thoughtfully, wondering what exactly he was getting into.

“Well… perhaps I could ask Daichi and Suga to come some time and give them some pointers?” The huge man jumped as Noya slammed his hands on the table, leaning forward and looking at Asahi with starry eyes.

“That would be amazing! You should definitely ask! Wait, you wanted me to come back to your place after right? or was that invitation for another time? either way, I want to ask soon! there’s a tournament with the other schools in the area and I want to kick some ass!”

Asahi blinked a little, then smiled, mentally noting that Noya had more enthusiasm than anyone he had ever met before. He nodded, swallowing thickly and working on getting a couple words out.

“Y-Yeah, I’ll definitely ask.”

“You’re the best, Asahi!” Noya gushed, leaning back in his chair and clenching his fist, grinning as he thought about the possibility, “Hey, if they want to play with us even they’d be welcome.”

“W-well, they are on the volleyball team so I’m not sure they’d want to, but I will ask.” Asahi rubbed the back of his neck, smiling a little as he looked away.

“Right, Right, Of course, of course.” Noya nodded, solemn and thoughtful in the blink of an eye.

“So… are we ready for the bills now? how far is the gym from here?” Asahi asked and Noya smiled slyly.

“It’s only about a fifteen minute walk, if you want to do that rather than ride the bus.”

“That sounds great.” a gush of air came out of Asahi’s chest in relief of the idea of walking. Noya grinned wider, jumping up from the dark wood chair.

“Great! I’m poppin’ into the bathroom, I’ll be right back!” He called, vanishing around a corner with a short wave. Asahi fiddled with his glass of water, biting his lip and worrying that Noya was going to not return from the bathroom. He looked up as the bus boy cleared away the plates with a nod which Asahi returned, muttering a thank you before sipping his water again. He felt his shoulders relax a little as Noya came around the corner again, before immediately tensing up again at the sight of his mischievous smile.

“Alright, we’re all squared up so lets bounce!” He announced, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on as Asahi blinked at him in confusion.

“But… I didn’t pay? I’ll just need a minute to do so.” Noya grinned wider and shook his head. 

“I gotcha covered.” He said with a wink, and Asahi must have looked to be in a genuine state of confusion, prompting Noya to continue, “I paid for both of us.”

“Oh! You…Th-thank you, um, I can, um, pay you back…? You didn’t need to…” 

Noya laughed again, making Asahi snap his mouth shut and feel his cheeks catch fire, “It’s fine, Asahi. Really! Think of it as a thank you.”

“A thank you?” Asahi said as Noya nodded, feeling his eyebrows knit together, “For what?”

“I ‘unno, its cool. Anyway, lets get walking?” 

Asahi nodded a bit dumbly, pushing himself up and pulling on his coat as he followed the speedwalking Noya out of the pub. He felt his heart beat faster, wondering if he’d imagined the light flush on Noya’s cheeks before he’d turned away. Long legs allowed for Asahi to catch up with his companion easily enough, and Noya glanced up as they fell into stride.

“Thank you.” Asahi said after a moment, tucking his hands into his pockets again.

Noya looked at him again and flashed a half grin at the taller man, “You’re welcome.” He looked down, bangs flopping into his eyes again before he brushed them away, still smiling when he lifted his head again.

A few long moments of silence settled over them, and Asahi felt his mind whirling as if it were one of the orange leaves being pushed along by the October breeze. He swallowed a bit and glanced down at Noya who seemed at ease. Asahi relaxed slightly, looking up and adjusting the strap of his gym bag as they headed back the way they’d come. They gym was still on the other side of campus, but Asahi found he didn’t mind the silent streets so much when Noya was beside him. They made it to the sleek, modern building and headed immediately for the change rooms. Asahi checked his watch, a little surprised to see it was still only two.

“Oh, we’re quite a bit early, aren’t we?” 

“Yep!” Noya chirped, putting the combination into his locker, “I usually come a little early to help throw up the nets, plus you probably want to warm up a little bit first, right?” 

“Oh, that is a good idea…” Asahi said thoughtfully, a bit surprised at himself for not thinking of that. 

“Do you have a locker here? you can just throw your stuff in mine if not.” 

“Oh! yes, thank you. I appreciate it.” Noya flashed another half smile as he hung up his coat in the locker, then they both changed quickly. Asahi found himself having more trouble than usual resisting the urge to glance at the shorter man. Asahi tucked his clothes into his Gym bag then neatly slid it onto the top shelf of the locker, as Noya’s bag hung crookedly from one of the hooks beside his coat. 

“All ready?” Noya asked, stretching his arms over his head. He smiled when Asahi nodded, “Alright lets hit the court!” He said, trotting out of the locker room with Asahi lumbering along behind him. 

Asahi tugged his shirt down by the bottom a little, wondering how long it had been since he’d been on a genuine volleyball court and feeling his heart race. Noya pushed the door open, holding it open for Asahi who swallowed thickly and stepped through, feeling a rush of nostalgia run through him as his feet hit the floor. Noya followed him in, making a surprised sound in the back of his throat.

“Oh hey, someone already put the nets up. Gimme a second and let me grab the ball bin and we can do a couple rallies!”

“You don’t need any help?” Asahi asked worriedly, and Noya shook his head as he trotted to the small equipment room. Asahi took a moment to just look out at the empty court, closing his eyes and inhaling before letting a smile grace his features. They opened again as the rumble of a cart reached his ears, and Noya parked the bin of volleyballs beside the court, grabbing a red and green one off the top.

“Think fast!” He yelled, serving the ball to Asahi who felt his body glide into position and receive it, sending it up into the air. Noya whooped, running to hit it back, not noticing Asahi’s look of surprise at himself. 

“Nice recieve!” Noya called as he sent the ball heading back towards Asahi. 

“Likewise!” Asahi said a bit breathlessly, lobbing the ball back and following their back and forth. 

“Hey you’re a spiker right?” Noya said as he sent the ball back towards Asahi after several minutes of rallying. Asahi nodded and sent the ball back, seeing Noya get under it with his hands up, ready to set. The second he saw the shift in Noya’s pose, he headed for the net, eye glued to the ball and jumping up as Noya sent it sailing towards him. 

Faintly, he heard the gym door swing open as he hit the peak of his jump, palm connecting with the ball and sending it forcefully towards the opposite side of the net.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three writing playlists:
> 
> http://8tracks.com/aobooty/on-our-way  
> http://8tracks.com/moonflowers/we-got-this  
> http://8tracks.com/radiantmelody/you-gotta-have-fun
> 
> I had a ton of fun writing this chapter and I've had it written for like two weeks but editing man. editing. lil bit of a shift to Asahi this chapter which is fun because Asahi is my tiny son. 
> 
> Thank you for reading in any case! If you enjoyed, please Kudo and Comment! I love talking with you guys. <3


	4. That was Amazing!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Hinata loses his goddamn mind  
> -They play some volleyball

As Asahi’s feet hit the ground, a shout came from the door, drawing his attention. A pair of first years were standing there as the gym door slammed shut behind them, staring at Asahi with wide eyes. 

“That was amazing!” the shorter of the pair shouted as he practically tripped over himself to approach Asahi. His wild orange hair bounced around his head as he stopped just in front of the taller man.

“Ah, th-thank you…” Asahi said, taking a half step back when the boy stuck his hand out.

“I’m Hinata!”

“Asahi…” He said nervously, shaking the outstretched hand lightly, hoping that Hinata didn’t notice Asahi’s palms were sweating.

“Are you joining our team? We could use another tall guy who can spike. It’s really cool to meet you! What year are you--” The dark haired youth that Hinata had walked in with had grabbed Hinata by the head, effectively shutting him up in surprise.

“You dumbass. Do you have no manners? Who the hell yells questions at a guy you just met? Jesus.” 

Hinata squawked and pushed at the other boy’s hand in a rage, glaring up at him, “Kageyama, what are you, my mother? I’m just having a conversation!” Asahi started edging away from the pair as they bickered, half tempted to bolt and hide behind Noya.

“It’s not a conversation when you’re the only one talking!”

“He was right about to answer!” They both turned to Asahi who froze, an uncomfortable smile stretching his cheeks. 

“Alright guys calm down!” Noya laughed, holds his hands out and breaking the two out of their tense glaring. Kageyama crossed his arms, making a stink face still but shutting his mouth as Hinata looked up at him, smug at being freed.

“I wasn’t doing anything…” He grumbled, making Noya shake his head.

“I literally just saw you, Kags. Anyway, as he said, this is Asahi, a friend of mine. He’s just checking us out to see if he wants to play so can you two like… not lose your minds or something?” He said, drawing an amused smile from Hinata.

“Yeah, Kageyama.”

“He addressed both of us, Hinata.” They both glared at each other, making Noya sigh and grab a ball from the bin. They both snapped their eyes to it as soon as it was in his hands, looking hungry to play.

“That’s what I thought, you weirdos.” Noya said affectionately and tucking the ball under his arm, “Alright, did you guys see the other three?”

Hinata made a face as he opened his mouth to reply, “Yeah, Tsukki was there, but I didn’t see Tanaka or Yamaguchi.”

Noya hummed in understanding, “Alright cool. Everyone jog ‘round the gym till those jerks get here!” The words were barely out of Noya’s mouth before Hinata and Kageyama immediately took off in a slightly too-fast-to-be-a-friendly pace, eyeing each other.

“Geez, these two are weird.” Noya muttered, turning to Asahi and motioning for them to jog as well.

By the time the door opened to reveal the three missing team members, the first year duo were lapping Asahi and Noya as they full-out sprinted around the gym, locked in some unspoken race.

“God, why do I even bother.” A tall blond droned, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. The freckled boy beside him shot him a smile and a sidelong glance, before spotting Asahi. He opened his mouth to say something, but a boy with a growing out buzzcut barged between the pair, grinning from ear to ear.

“Noya! is this the guy you mentioned?” He practically sang, walking up to Asahi.

“Yep! The potential fresh meat, himself! Asahi, this is Ryu, or Tanaka, my roommate. Tweedledee and Tweedledum over there are Yamagucci and Tsukki respectively.” Tsukki blinked as he replaced his glasses, then looked vaguely scandalized as his dark haired friend perked up in delight.

“It’s great to meet you!” Tanaka said, grabbing Asahi’s hand and shaking it vigorously. for a fleeting moment, Asahi wondered if all of Noya’s friend’s were as excitable as Noya himself was.

“L-Likewise.” He stuttered, making Tsukki raise an unimpressed eyebrow. Hinata seemed to appear at Asahi’s elbow, panting a little from sprinting and grinning from ear to ear.

“I saw Asahi land an incredible spike before! It just went like Bwoahh!!! and it bounced back almost up to the ceiling, I bet! it was nuts!” Asahi blinked a bit, processing both the compliment and the fact that Hinata and Noya seemed to both speak in sound effects.

“It was pretty nuts,” Noya said, rubbing his chin seriously, “Very Bwoahh.”

“Well, we’re happy to have another good player on our team.” Yamaguchi ventured, making Asahi smile a rub the back of his neck. 

“I… well, I’m in my third year so I don’t know that I would be able to come all the time… but I’m glad to be here too.”

“Yeah, yeah, team stuff.” Noya laughed, playfully pushing Asahi a little, “We’ve only got an hour and a half to do drills so lets do this after!”

That set them all in motion, filling the gym with the sounds of squeaking shoes and bouncing balls. It quickly became apparent to Asahi that there were some major weaknesses and inexperience issues, but there was also a crackle of potential. He bit his lip a little as he spiked a ball at Hinata, who got low to try and receive it. The ball bounced oddly, at an angle impossible to keep in the air, making Kageyama swear loudly.

“Get your head in the game, Dumbass!” he barked, making the shorter boy glare at him over his shoulder.

“I’d like to see you do better!”

“Guys, guys, chill out.” Noya sighed as he picked up the ball, “Kageyama, just keep setting for those two! We need to get our defence up. I know I’m literally the greatest libero in the game right now, but even I can’t do all of the work in a game. Plus if we do well in the tournament coming up, we’ll probably pick up some more teammates right?”

Hinata huffed and nodded, getting back into place as Kageyama picked up another ball. Asahi found himself worrying that he was going to spike a ball right into Hinata’s face at this rate, and Tsukki snorted from beside him. 

“Man, these guys are ridiculous.” He sighed, looking at Asahi, as if sizing him up. Then they both turned as Noya called for a serve and Kageyama sent the ball up into the air. They resumed their three on four practice game with vigour. 

Asahi found himself getting more caught up in the game than he expected, his body falling into the familiar patterns that he had thought he had forgotten in his lengthy absence from volleyball. An energy buzzed through his mind, making him push himself hard. Noya called time after several good volleys and they all moved to the side of the court, panting hard. 

“Alright guys, that was pretty good. We’re going to stretch, clean up, and then get out of here. You guys all good for practice this Tuesday?” They all murmured a yes, then turned to Asahi who looked a bit unsure.

“Erm… what time does it start?” He asked, as Hinata looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Four thirty on tuesday and thursday, then three on sunday every week. Do you wanna at least come to Tuesday before you decide?” Noya asked, meeting Asahi’s dark eyes.

“Um… Okay, yes. I’ll come to Tuesday at least.” He said, averting his gaze and trying not to meet the eyes of anyone.

“Great! Also you should text me about what Suga and Daichi say about giving us some pointers.” 

“Why would we need pointers from whoever those people are?” Kageyama asked in disdain.

“Because they’re only the captain and setter for the school team or whatever.” Noya said, rolling his eyes.

“What! oh my god! that’s amazing!” Hinata bounced on his heels, nearly shivering with excitement, “You can get them to come, Asahi?” 

“Well… they’re my roommates. Maybe. I haven’t asked yet, b-but I will ask.” Asahi stammered, face flushing as everyone looked at him. He swallowed and gave them a wobbly smile, wiping his sweaty palms on his gym shorts.

“Yeah! if it works out, it’ll be awesome, but for now we need to get out of here in like fifteen minutes. Everyone clean up, then stretch, then hit the showers, you smelly bastards.” Noya said in a sing song voice as he started refilling the ball bin. Tsukki and Yamaguchi went to start taking the net down, as Kageyama and Tanaka followed to help Noya. Hinta lingered for a few minutes, looking contemplative before looking up at Asahi.

“Hey um… can I ask you something?” Asahi turned to him, tilting his head a bit, “Well, you’re… even if you don’t end up joining the team, do you think you could give me some pointers on spiking like you do? because like…” He paused for a moment, considering whether or not he should continue.

“Because?” Asahi said softly, not wanting to draw the attention of the others.

“Because I want to be the ace of this team, like, a proper proper ace, but I’ve also got to prove that I’m worthy of that. So… can you help me out maybe?” Asahi smiled a bit, surprised at the orange haired man.

“Um… if I can be helpful to you, I’d be happy to help. You’ve just got to be patient with me and um… how intense my school is.” Asahi glanced to the side, a little embarrassed by how excited Hinata was.

“Oh man thanks!” 

Asahi nodded, smiling shyly and Hinata took off, his shaggy hair flying back as he followed Tanaka to get the brooms from the side room. 

Once the gym was clean, the seven men filed out, going into the locker room in a loud knot of testosterone and freshly released endorphins. Asahi hummed a little as he followed Noya back to his locker, waiting patiently for him to open it as Tanaka went to the one across from Noya’s.

“So, Asahi, you and Noya were hanging out earlier today huh?” He said, looking over his shoulder and he rummaged through the messy locker.

“Oh, yes. We went for lunch and walked here together.” Asahi said softly, scratching at his jaw and Tanaka turned back to his locker with an interested hum.

“Musta been fun! The three of us should go out for a beer or something after this heh?”

“Oh, um…” Asahi hesitated, buying himself some time by pulling his bag out of Noya’s locker, “Perhaps… I can’t stay for too long though because I have some reading to get done for tomorrow I think.” 

“Aw, someone’s a good lil’ student huh?” Tanaka’s grin looked a little feral as he turned around.

“Well, it is pretty expensive and I’m paying for a lot of it.” He admitted, smiling a bit. Noya glanced up from rummaging in his own bags, looking thoughtful at the statement.

“Fair say. I got lucky since my parents put enough away for both me and my sister.” Tanaka nodded to himself, “I’ve gotta pay the rent and the bills though.” 

“That seems like a reasonable set up to me.” Asahi said.

“Yeah, for real.” Tanaka nodded, getting himself ready for the shower, “What year did you say you’re in?” 

Asahi took a minute to wonder if Tanaka asked him that already before making himself answer, “Third, so I’m almost done.”

The two of them nodded before they all headed to the shower area, breaking off into the stalls to wash off. Seven showers went off in harmony. Asahi inhaled and exhaled, feeling some tension melt off his shoulders as the hot water hit them. Steam rose up around him, and he looked down at the floor, blinking a bit as he saw the vague outlines of the people on either side of him-- Noya and Tanaka-- in the wet tiles. Asahi felt himself go red and quickly looked up, staring at the off white curtain and getting his long hair wet. His muscles felt loose and warm, happily relaxing under the warm spray. 

The first shower head shut off, and Asahi took that as a cue to finish quickly, scrubbing his hands over his face and shutting his own water off. He dried himself and hurried back to the change area with his towel wrapped around his waist. Tsukki seemed to be changing not too far away, but Asahi kept his distance, opting to check his phone while he waited for the others to return. 

“How was volleyball? ;)” 

Asahi narrowed his eyes slightly at the ominous text from Suga, trying to read a deeper message from it as he sat on the bench that separated the rows of lockers. Several possibilities ran through his mind and he carefully typed out a response.

“It was pretty good. Though, I think all of Noya’s friends are really high energy.” He hit send and immediately regretting it, realizing his mistake.

“Oh yeah? How was Noya?” Asahi groaned, covering his eyes with his huge palm and thinking.

“Good. Did your cat do anything cute while I was gone?” Asahi bit his lip as he hit send, sending up a silent prayer which was immediately answered when he got a two paragraph long text from his roommate, detailing many average cat behaviours. 

A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Noya and Tanaka came around the corner, both in their towels, “Oh Asahi! that was fast.” Noya said, going to his bag and starting to change. Asahi averted his eyes, squeezing some water out of his hair.

“I tend to shower quickly at the gym.” 

“Yeah, they’re kinda gross here.” Tanaka groaned, pulling on a pair of pants. 

“I’ve been to far worse,” Noya said, shuddering slightly and pulling a sweater over his head. 

“Well, any public area isn’t especially clean, usually.” Asahi said, frowning. Hinata and Kageyama walked past them as they headed back to the section of the locker room their clothing was stashed, bickering once again. 

“I guess so,” Noya said, making a face and making an effort to ignore the strange duo, “I try not to think about it too much.”

“Usually I’d make fun of you for that but that is actually fair.” Tanaka said, pulling a beanie on. 

Noya nodded wisely, smiling as he gave his limp hair one last shake. They all pulled on their jackets and slipped outside to wait for the other players to emerge. The rest of the team emerged in their respective pairs, all fresh and bundled. The sun was starting to set already as the clock pushed towards five, and the wind picked up as the last two-- Hinata and Kageyama-- emerged. 

The team made its way through the echoing lobby and stepped into the wind, scattering in it quickly. Hinata turned as he walked off with Kageyama, waving excitedly before they turned a corner, heading for the dorms. Tsukki and Yamaguchi both said their farewells and vanished in the opposite direction, leaving the three eldest members of the team alone.

“So, we’re going for beers then?” Tanaka said, rubbing his hands together and pulling his sweater around himself more tightly.

“Ah, the weather isn’t looking very good.” Asahi rubbed the back of his neck, swallowing.

“Yeah... How about after practice on Tuesday then?” Noya said, glancing at Tanaka who rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s good for me.”

“Oh…” Asahi said, biting his lip, “Well, okay. sure. I can do that.” He shifted his weight to his other foot as the two shorter men grinned at each other knowingly.

“Awesome!!! Do you want us to walk you home, Asahi?” Noya said as he looked up at Asahi in a way that made his lips turn up at the corners, unbidden.

“No, that’s alright. you two have a long bus ride ahead of you, I don’t want you to stay longer on my account, especially on a Sunday.” 

“Oh right.” Noya said lamely, making Tanaka laugh.

“Yeah, Noya, like the man said. It was cool to meet you, Asahi!” He reached out again, shaking Asahi’s hand with a firm, warm hand. The force of it made Asahi worry that Tanaka was actively trying to pull him down for a second, but then Tanaka released him and nodded proudly.

“I-It was good to meet you too. T-Tuesday?” Asahi stuttered out as he fixed his jacket.

“You know it, big guy.” 

“Text me when you get home?” Asahi said, glancing at Noya, who nodded, a grin painting his cheeks.

“Yeah man, no problem!”

The three of them parted ways with a wave, heading off in different directions. A cold wind started to pick up, rattling the bright orange and red trees. Asahi caught himself thinking that they reminded him a little of Hinata’s unbelievable hair as he rounded a corner. He smile as he trotted the last block to his house, hurrying up the stairs and rubbing his hands together. 

Asahi pulled his hair out of its tie as he walked into the house, annoyed at the nearly frozen dampness that seemed to crown his head. He took a moment to stoop down and take off his shoes before slipping down the hall with light steps. the house was quiet, Daichi’s door close and Suga’s open enough for his cat to come and go as she pleased. Asahi licked his lips, keeping an eye out for movement behind Suga’s door as he crept down the hallway.

A meow made Asahi jump and he looked back at the smug tabby with wide eyes. Suga leaned back in his chair to peer through the gap in his door, grinned and jumped up, making Asahi narrow his eyes as the pleased cat.

“Asahi!” Suga sang, drawing Daichi from his room as well as the silver haired man threw an arm around his friend’s shoulder, “You look like you had a good time! Finally getting out of that shell of yours.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.” Daichi drawled from where he was leaning on his doorframe. 

“Yeah, I don’t think so either.” Suga nodded solemnly, squeezing Asahi’s shoulders.

“Right, well…” Asahi said, trying to squirm away from Suga, “I do need to get to work on something I have for tomorrow so…” Suga held him tighter as his cat slinked over to rub Asahi’s leg.

“That can wait!” Suga sang, dragging his friend into the living room and all but forcing him to sit on the couch, “I want to hear about everything, Asahi.” 

The taller of the pair sputtered as Suga sat down, shaking his head a little and taking a moment to compose himself. He inhaled, exhaled, then opened his eyes again to look at the grinning face across from him.

“Well… I’m not sure what to say past that it sure was a volleyball practice.” Asahi said, making Suga roll his eyes.

“I’m sure you’ve got something to say about it.” He encouraged, glancing at Daichi as he appeared in the doorway of the living room, putting on an air of indifference that was undone by the glint in his eye. 

Asahi nodded a little, “Oh, yes, that does remind me of something actually. Would you two be interested in coming to a practice for them? They’re not bad but… They’re definitely inexperienced.” 

Suga blinked and exchanged a look with Daichi, who shrugged with a hint of a smile dancing on his lips. Suga squinted a little then nodded, turning back to Asahi who had begun to fidget with the hem of his shirt.

“Sure, next Sunday should be fine for us,” Suga said for the both of them, a crafty gleam in his expression.

“Okay, good.” Asahi said, a bit wary, “But um, I should probably get to work now…” 

Suga’s cat jumped onto Asahi’s lap and sat, looking up at him with golden eyes and purring lightly. She blinked up at the long haired man, then settled down comfortably, closing her eyes in an instant and making Asahi wrinkle his nose at the foiled escape.

“Aww, Lady, how sweet.” Suga purred, stroking her head, “I guess Asahi here will just have to stick around for your little cat nap now.” 

“I know you couldn’t have planned this but I still feel like you did, somehow.” Asahi muttered, staring down at the cat. Suga threw his head back and laughed, shaking his head. He leaned back against the arm of the couch with a satisfied look on his face and glanced at Daichi.

“Mhmm, while you’re here though…” Suga grinned and Asahi groaned but gave in, petting Lady’s head and going over the events of the day with his roommates.

Finally, Asahi found himself able to retreat to his room after every detail of his evening had been successfully pried from him. He dropped his bag to the floor and wobbled over to his bed, climbing into it and turning on the lamp that sat on his bedside table. The last dregs of sunset were bleeding out of the sky when he looked out the window, smiling a little at the calm scene that stretched out along the usually bustling street.

Asahi took a few long moments in steady himself, then pulled out his phone and opened a new text message.

“Today was a lot of fun,” He started, then frowned and deleted that, shaking his head and starting again, “Thank you for,” Asahi frowned, deleting that as well.

He sighed, slowly typing and deleting the letters several times before deciding on a final message; “Thank you for inviting me out today, I had a lot of fun! Suga and Daichi said that they’d be willing to come to next Sunday’s practice to check it out and give some pointers. Maybe… you and I could get lunch together before practice again?”

Asahi sent the text before he could fret over it any further, and immediately began fretting and rereading the text. No spelling errors popped out of him, and it didn’t seem awkward but nervousness ate at Asahi’s stomach even when he put his phone down on the bedside table. 

With a heaving sigh, Asahi got up and changed into his pyjamas and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He returned to his room and blinked, seeing the notification light on his cell phone blinking lazily. 

Asahi chewed his lip and paced his room a little, grabbing his textbook and putting it on his bed. He glanced at his phone. He went and grabbed a notebook and pen from his desk, returning to his bed and looking at his phone again. 

A few more moments of fidgeting and nerves gave way to a little exasperated sigh at himself and Asahi shook his head to clear it. He sat on the bed and licked his lips as he picked up the sleek black rectangle, bringing the screen to life and pulling up his texting app before looking too closely at the on screen notification.

“Ah, I just got home!!! It was a lot of fun with you there!!! and that’s really really great, Asahi! :D You’re the best!” The text read, making the long haired man smile before noting the absent response to his lunch invitation. He sighed, leaning back into his pillows and ignoring his books as he reread the last few messages, considering his next move. Before he started typing, his phone beeped, bringing up another message from Noya.

“Oh, and we should definitely get lunch again. and drinks on Tuesday! ;) With or without Ryu!” 

Asahi felt his entire face go red and he hid it in his hands, not even trying to fight the smile that crawled onto his face. With a glance at his textbook, Asahi turned his eyes back to the screen of his phone.

“That sounds good to me. Are you getting up to anything else tonight?” 

He put his phone down at that, pulling his books over and settling in with them, eyes straying to his phone and fingers lighting up the screen every few moments to see if a reply had come yet.

It wasn’t long before Asahi gave up his studying to lay on his side, exchanging texts with Noya while huddled in his blankets. He fought the heaviness in his eyes more than he’d expected he’d have to; Asahi wasn’t even sure when he’d rolled over to turn off his lamp but he found himself laying in the darkness with only his phone screen to illuminate his bedroom. 

Words swam in front of him before finally, sleep claimed him. Asahi slept with his phone still loosely grasped in his hand, not feeling the buzz of Noya’s goodnight text.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about dragging my ass with this one guys. I've been like........ doing this weird thing where I pretend I'm an adult? work full time and arrange for a new apartment? what is that nonsense anyway. who the fuck knows.
> 
> I've had most of this chapter written for like a month, I actually have no excuse, I'm sorry. I'd like to aim for bi-monthly or monthly updates for the rest of the summer so lets see how that goes!!!
> 
> also suga as a cat mom. it is canon, as I have decreed. 
> 
> Please kudos and comment if you enjoyed my work, lovelies <3
> 
> Writing playlist:  
> http://8tracks.com/bellsproutsalad/repeat-repeat-repeat  
> (among others, I forgot to keep track)


	5. Doki Doki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Noya, I have a confession to make.” Asahi said seriously, putting his empty glass down. The shorter man looked up at Asahi’s suddenly serious face, and his beer-flushed seemed to get a touch redder.

Asahi’s phone felt heavier in his pocket than usual and it made him wonder if texts had a discernible weight if the volume of one’s texts messages were to, say, quadruple within a two day period. He sighed as he glanced at the clock on the wall of his class, nibbling on the cap of his pen lightly. The ticking was too far away to hear, but each jerk of the second hand made Asahi twitch as if the sound of it was worming its way into his brain anyway.

He jumped a little in the seat when his phone buzzed, making the bar holding it up screech loudly. Asahi slid down further in his seat when he got a couple glances from his classmates before they returned to listening to the professor’s passionate but boring lecture. With their eyes off him, Asahi licked his lips and slid his phone out of his pocket to peer down at the screen.

“Asahiii, I’m really bored in class!!! :3 entertain me please!” Noya had sent, followed by another, more complex emoji in his next text.

“I’m not sure what I could do to entertain, since I’m in class right now too.” Asahi typed with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Asahi pocketed his phone again and tried desperately to pay attention to the lecture, scribbling some notes down before getting distracted by another buzz in his pocket. He slid his dark eyes over to the clock again, deciding that he had to wait at least five minutes before responding the Noya’s message. He looked at the professor again, tuning back in as he talked about insurance law. Asahi immediately tuned back out. His hand slid into his pocket again and he glanced at the wall clock, a little annoyed that it seemed to have been exactly two minutes since he’d last turned his gaze that way.

“Good point I guess. what class are you in? I’m in OChem and I’m probably going to D I E.” was followed again by another elaborate emoji, making Asahi wonder if Noya’s phone had come pre-loaded with them.

“Business Law. I feel your pain.”

Asahi went back to fiddling with his pen and wondering how he was going to survive the last half an hour of class that stood between Tuesday volleyball practice and himself. He found his legs bouncing up and down as he tried to focus. His shoulders were tense. He kept twitching at every silent tick of the clock. It was unbearable, he decided. Being excited was far more work than it was worth and was absolutely murder on Asahi’s already strained heart. 

His phone buzzed again and Asahi’s heart leapt in his chest. He felt as if he was proving his own point as he took out his phone again. He took care to glance around to room to make sure he wasn’t bothering other students before looking at the screen.

“Eww, I think that might be worse, Asahi! At least Organic Chemistry is interesting sometimes. D;”

Asahi pondered the logic of a winking distressed face as he responded: “Well, I actually like it usually. We’re talking about insurance today though, and it’s absolutely the most boring class I’ve ever had to sit through.”

“You like it usually???” Was the almost instant response from Noya.

“Yeah, its pretty interesting, in a weird way I guess. At least when we’re talking about agency and contracts at least. Apparently we’re both weird nerds though, if you find OChem interesting sometimes. You couldn’t pay me to sit through a chemistry class.” Asahi typed back as he fought to keep the smile on his face small. He glanced up at the professor, glad he had decided to sit at the back of the class.

Finally, the class ended in a flutter of bags opening and books closing. Asahi hurried to pack his things and bolt from the room before the worst of the human traffic made its way into the halls. Asahi sighed in relief as he got through the doors of the old building and walked down the stairs, pulling to the left of the sidewalk to check his phone. 

“Stay right there!” Asahi frowned at the message, scratching his head and looking up at the sea of people. Then something slammed into his back, making him yelp in surprise and nearly drop his phone. Asahi looked over his shoulder with his eyes as wide as they could go. 

Noya grinned back at him, “Surprise!” 

“S-Surprise indeed.” Asahi said, putting his hand over his heart, “I didn’t realize your class was close by…” 

“It isn’t really that close but you’re uh. Hard to miss.” Noya winked at Asahi, making the taller man flush as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. 

“Thank you?” He wasn’t sure if it was a compliment.

“You’re welcome! We’ve got an hour before practice. Want to grab something quick to eat?” Noya said with a smile still dancing across his face. Asahi nodded meekly, wondering if his heart was going to slow its erratic beating at any point. 

“Would you like to get a teriyaki bowl? Or perhaps we could get some pork buns.” Asahi offered, stomach rumbling at the thought.

“Ooh! Teriyaki!” Noya said a they started heading towards the small take out place in the main building. They both talked a little about their respective classes again as they made their way there, descending a flight of stairs to get into the open foyer of the university center.

The pair quieted as they weaved through the people going to and from class, the groups standing in the middle of the open foyer, and the other students on their way to one place or another. Asahi glanced at Noya, leading them both through the door of the little takeout place. He smiled a little, glancing away quickly as Noya turned his head. They placed their orders, and Asahi held up a hand as Noya started to dig in his bag for his wallet.

“I can get the food this time.” Asahi said softly, making Noya blink.

“Oh, awesome! I’ll have to make sure to get us both next time, then.”

“Wh-- but…” Asahi frowned, bringing his eyebrows together as Noya waved him off.

“Don’t worry so much, Asahi.” He winked and Asahi fumbled getting his debit card into the machine, face bright red. The shorter man laughed, stepping around Asahi and grabbing the plastic bowls that were placed on the counter for them. 

“You’re going to be the death of me at this rate.” Asahi muttered, making Noya throw his head back and laugh.

“Probably! Let's hurry up and eat so we go play ball with the kids.” He said fondly as they slipped out into the mild autumn air, finding a bench and sitting near the gym with their rice bowls. They settled into their meal amicably, watching other students scurry past the bright orange trees and browning grass. 

Asahi found himself glancing at Noya when he felt the other wasn’t looking, taking in the slope of his nose and cheek. The cool air had raised a hint of pink to his skin and Asahi made himself look away. His stomach fluttered and he fidgeted a little, glancing at Noya as the other glanced up. They made eye contact for a second, then Asahi looked down again quickly, shoving food into his mouth.

“So… did you still want to get drinks after practice?” Noya ventured after a moment of consideration. Asahi just nodded, chewing his mouthful of rice and beef. Asahi forced himself to swallow and started to say something before and orange head thrust itself between them.

“Hey guys!” Hinata chirped, leaning over the back of the bench the pair had been sitting on and making them both jerk back in surprise. He blinked at their faces, looking between the two of them until Noya laughed affectionately.

“Hey Hinata. Where’s Kageyama?” 

“Oh, I left a bit earlier than him! He was working on some dumb thing or whatever for some class. Probably.” Hinata rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Also it’s not like we’re always together or anything. I can hardly stand the guy.” 

Noya and Asahi glanced at each other knowingly, before Noya stood up, shrugging, “Yeah, I guess so. You heading in to change?” 

“Yeah! I figured the gym would be empty anyway. We should get set up for everyone else!”

The three of them piled into the change rooms together, and Asahi let himself get lost in the familiar rhythms of set up. The rest of the team had burst in on him giving Hinata spiking tips, then the symphony of squeaking shoes and calls for passes and serves washed over him. 

After practice the team cleaned up and hit the showers, all of them breathing a sigh of relief when hot water hit their shoulders. Asahi found himself standing under the spray, keeping his head tilted back and breathing softly through his nose. He felt all of the tension that had built up in his shoulders from the day melt off him from the hard exercise of practice and hot water.

Asahi lingered longer than he’d intended, jumping as he heard the chatter of Noya and Tanaka as they exited their respective showers. He jolted and hurried to shut off the water and towel himself off, slinking out of the stall with it wrapped around his waist. 

Noya was just pulling on his shirt as Asahi slipped over to the locker they’d ended up sharing again. He blinked and turned a little red, eyes drifting downward before snapping back up to Asahi’s face.

“Quick showers huh?” He teased, quirking an eyebrow up.

“There’s a lot of me to wash.” Asahi said offhandedly, shrugging and trying to ignore the sputtering of his heart as Noya’s eyes traced the curve of Asahi’s shoulders.

“Right…” He trailed off a little, then blinked and turned around quickly, “A-Anyway! Ryu said he still wants to come so we’ll uh, be waiting just outside when you’re ready!”

“Yuu, I’m not… ready to go yet.” Tanaka objected, still buttoning his shirt. The pile of sweaty gym clothes sat beside him and Noya laughed a bit, rubbing his neck.

“Man, both you AND Asahi dragging your heels tonight, huh…” 

Tanaka blinked a little at the tone in Noya’s voice, raising his eyebrows at his roommate questioningly but getting nothing but an eyeroll in return. Asahi had taken the opportunity to dress quickly.

“Well, I’ve just got to brush my hair, then I’m ready to go.” He said softly, rubbing the towel on his damp hair.

“Oh good! I was thinking we could walk to wherever we go, if everyone’s into that?” Noya asked, receiving twin nods from how companions. 

“That sounds like a good fucking time.” Tanaka said, nodding enthusiastically, “I haven’t gotten my drink on in like two weeks.”

“That’s your own fault for not getting things done ahead of time.” Noya snorted, drawing Tanaka’s glaring eyes.

“Like you’re any better, short stack.”

“That’s low, Ryu.” The two of them glared affectionately at each other and Asahi looked on pulling his hair into a low ponytail. 

“You’re not setting a very good example for us first years you know.” The three older students jumped in surprise, turning to the bored Tsukki and grinning Yamaguchi.

“I feel like you’d be a shit no matter what I did.” Noya shot back, earning a laugh from Tanaka and Yamaguchi. 

Tsukki shrugged as he walked past with his freckled companion, “Maybe, but I think you’re rubbing off on the weird duo.” He said over his shoulder, then departed without a proper goodbye.

“I’m not sure I’d call Hinata and Kageyama the odd duo in their case…” Asahi said sheepishly, making Noya and Tanaka laugh and the other two first years peer around the corner of the lockers.

“Yeah! Tsukkishima is the weird one.” Hinata grumbled, pulling a sweater over his damp head and huffing loudly. 

Kageyama grunted in agreement, crossing his arms across his chest as the older students pulled on their jackets. Asahi smiled at the two of them. Despite the vastly different personalities, he found that the two of them reminded him a little of Suga and Daichi. With a yawn from Tanaka, the five of them walked outside into the chilly air. The first year pair started heading back to the dorms with a wave, leaving Asahi, Tanaka and Noya alone.

Noya kept glancing at Tanaka, squinting slightly, “So where are we gonna go?”

“There’s the student bar place down the street. It’s kinda grungy but it will be empty tonight.” Tanaka said and Noya wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, alright.”

“I don’t mind that,” Asahi ventured, “It’s not far from my house too so… Yeah, that works for me.”

The three of them started down the street, Noya planted between the two taller men and still glancing at Tanaka. Asahi frowned a little, glancing between the two but keeping silent as the roommates chattered at each other. 

They arrived at the student bar, sitting at a dark wood table. Rings had been worn into the varnish, leaving light circles on the surface as if they were the echoes of the long graduated students that had once filled the tables. The old-house-turned-bar had two main rooms, one running the length of the building with the bar on one side, and an exit to the patio which sat empty in the cold autumn air. The other room was wide, sporting a dance floor surrounded with similarly run down tables and chairs. Only one bartender and a handful of people sat in the establishment, clinking glasses and engaging in low conversations.

“Do they serve food here?” Asahi asked, reaching for the menu, “I’m kind of hungry after all that running.”

“Yeah, but I dunno if that kitchen is still--” Tanaka started, before a server seemed to materialize at his elbow.

“We serve food for another hour.” The pretty girl said flatly, flicking open a little notebook.

“O-Oh!” Asahi stammered, grabbing at the menu and looking at it. Tanaka inhaled quickly from beside him, making the long haired man took. The starry eyed look on the spiker’s face almost made Asahi laugh, but he bit his tongue to keep it in.

“I-I’ll just have a hamburger please…” Asahi said softly, offering the menu to her. She accepted it and turned her eyes to Noya, who looked a little pink.

“Same…”

“I want chicken wings please!” Tanaka blurted, and the server just nodded, writing down the food orders, then taking the drink orders as well. She vanished just as quietly as she’d arrived and Tanaka stared at her retreating back.

“Holy fuck she’s so beautiful.” He breathed. Asahi hummed in agreement, and Noya turned to his roommate with wide eyes.

“How have we never seen her before? She’s got to be a model or something.”

Asahi shook his head a little, “Ah, um, she knows Suga and Daichi, I think. She’s worked here for a while. I don’t… really come here ever so I’ve only heard about her but that must be who they’ve talked about.”

“I’ll have to ask her her name!” Tanaka said, pressing a hand over his heart, “I feel like I’ve seen an angel…” 

Noya laughed, “If you can get her number I’ll pay for all your drinks tonight.”

“Challenge accepted!” Tanaka clenched his fist, eyes blazing.

“I don’t… think that’s a good idea.” Asahi said slowly, drawing the attention of the other two, “W-well um. She’s at work so… it’s kind of… rude…” He struggled to get out and the roommates let out two identical “ohh”s and frowned.

“Good call Asahi, good call.” Tanaka said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. The server appeared again with their drinks and they all jumped.

“Did you need anything else?” She said softly, adjusting her glasses.

“Ah, um… I was just wondering…” Tanaka swallowed, “May I ask your name?”

She blinked twice then said “Shimizu.” 

“Oh, you are the one Suga and Daichi know.” Asahi said, mostly to himself. She looked at him with a little smile.

“You’re Asahi?”

Asahi froze, looking at her with wide eyes. She laughed softly at his expression, shaking her head slightly. Tanaka’s stare felt as if it burning holes in the side of his head, so Asahi made himself nod a little.

“Hm. It’s nice to meet you. Your food will be here shortly.” She said after a moment of thought, and retreated into the kitchen. There was a moment of stunned silence as Asahi put his hands on the table and stared at the wood intensely.

“What did Daichi say about me…” He breathed out in horror, making the other two explode with laughter, “It’s not funny! I legitimately have no idea!” 

“I-I’m sorry Asahi, but the look on your face is so good.” Noya laughed, wiping his eye and looking at Asahi with a warmth that made something flutter in Asahi’s chest.

The conversation moved away from Asahi after the laughter settled, and he was grateful to talk training strategies and possible formations for the upcoming intramural competition. The idea of stepping onto the court with another team made Asahi’s heart speed up, but he found himself not worrying about palpitations for once. He shifted in his seat and smiled at the thought, remembering his high school volleyball team as Noya complained about the work ahead of them.

Their food arrived and Shimizu flashed Asahi a secretive smile and he wondered just how bad her idea of him was. Asahi took a few long drinks of his rum and coke, then got up from the table with a shaky smile.

“Be back in a few moments.” The other two waved him off and he slinked into the bathroom, going to the sink to splash water on his face and release a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

After another few steadying breaths, Asahi dried his face and headed back to the table, sliding back in across from a smiling Noya. Tanaka looked a little sullen, prompting Asahi to raise his eyebrow a little, looking between the two of them.

“I can’t stay too much longer, Asahi. I uh… have an assignment I forgot about tomorrow so I’m going after I finish my food.” The bald headed man grumbled.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Tanaka. I hope you can get it done on time.”

“Yeah, me too…” He muttered, then looked up at Asahi, “Are you going to come to practice on Thursday?”

Asahi blinked a little as Noya’s eyes snapped to his, making him swallow nervously. He scratched his face, looking down at the sweating glass sitting beside his burger.

“Y-yes. I will be there. And Sunday too.”

“So you want to join the team officially?!” Noya asked, leaning forward with shining eyes.

“Yes?” Both of the younger men whooped at the unsteady answer, punching the air in delight. Asahi covered his face with his hands, feeling his cheeks get hot.

“Don’t make a scene…” He muttered, embarrassed.

“But it’s cause for celebration! you’re our official ace from now on!” Noya said, puffing out his chest and taking a swig of his beer.

“A-Ace?! what?!” 

“You have so much POWER to your spike, dude! Of course it’ll be you!” Tanaka said, slapping Asahi on the back and making him choke on the sip of his drink he’d tried to take.

“Yeah, Asahi! As team captain, I make it so.” Noya said, voice edged in authority. Authority that he immediately undermined by shoving a handful of fries into his mouth.

“Th-that… I mean… um…” Asahi stammered, before giving up and finishing off his drink.

“Aw, you finished off your drink before I could toast you.” Noya said, turning and looking for Shimizu. She spotted him and came over, “Miss. Shimizu, could you get Asahi another drink on my bill?”

She’d nodded and walked over to the bar before Asahi could stammer out an objection, “Noya…”

“It’s a celebration drink! don’t worry about it.” The shorter man said with a wink. Asahi sighed, smiling a little at the mischievous grin that danced across Noya’s slightly pink face.

“Alright, alright but… I’ll get it next time.” He relented, making Noya’s face somehow light up further. Asahi wondered idly if it was possible to go blind from looking at a one thousand watt smile.

“Of course!” 

Shimizu put the rum and coke on the table beside Asahi’s hand with another smile, taking the empty glass away and going to tend to her other patrons. 

“Now that everyone has a sufficient amount of alcohol in front of them, a toast!” Noya and Tanaka thrust their glasses into the air, and Asahi tentatively raised his as well, “To our new ace! may your spikes be as powerful as your jawline.” 

Tanaka had started to drink as he processed Noya’s words and choked, bellowing with laughter the second he stopped coughing. Noya grinned and finished up the rest of his beer as Asahi took the first sip of his drink, watching the two of them.

“Th… thank you?” Tanaka laughed harder, and Noya joined him, making Asahi shake his head a little. 

Asahi sat back a little, tucking into his food as the other two talked a mile a minute, grateful to have a moment to collect himself as the other two made up for his lack of conversation. He found himself wondering how it was possible to eat as quickly as Tanaka was and still talk so much.

Tanaka pushed his plate away and grinned, wiping his hands, “Alright, I should probably hit the ol’ dusty trail, eh? Don’t keep my little Noya out too late, Asahi.” 

“Yeah, okay dad.” Noya said, rolling his eyes. 

“I don’t like your tone, young man.”

“Oh my god you’re like six months older than me, get out of here, you procrastinator.” Noya laughed, shoving Tanaka’s shoulder. He just scoffed and fixed Noya with a look before heading over to the bar to pay his tab.

“See you on Thursday Asahi!” He said, waving and pushing his way through the door of the bar.

“You two seem really close.” Asahi commented, taking a sip of his drink. The shorter man smiled, looking fondly at the door.

“He’s my best friend.” 

Asahi nodded, smiling a little and tracing a pattern on the table. Noya leaned back a bit and yawned, taking another sip of his beer and turning his dark eyes to Asahi. They made eye contact for a moment before Asahi turned away, embarrassed to be caught staring.

“It’s nice to see. Um… close friendships are… good…” Asahi cringed a little, and Noya laughed lightly.

“Yeah they’re alright.”

“I um… have a bit of trouble in that department, unfortunately.” He confessed, mentally tearing his hair out the second the words were out of his mouth.

“Yeah?” Noya leaned his elbows on the table, tilting his head just enough to have the bleached bit of his hair slide across his forehead. The long haired man felt his face heat up as he licked his lips.

“Ah, um… yeah… I’m… only really friends with Suga and Daichi-- well, Daichi kind of. I’m not actually sure what he thinks of me?” Asahi kept his eyes on his drink, rubbing the scruff on his cheek lightly.

“Nah, you’ve got more friends than that.” Noya said, grinning as Asahi looked up at him questioningly, “Well I’m your friend. And I’d say Ryu and Hinata both think of you as a friend now too. Tsukki doesn’t count; that guy is probably only really friends with Yamaguchi.”

“You think so…?” Asahi looked down again, smiling a little, “That… maybe.”

“Well you’re on the team so like, I dunno even if you’re not friend friends yet, you will be soon enough. May as well count them as friends now ‘cause its gonna happen like gwouah.”

“Like gwouah, huh.” Asahi said with a teasing edge to his voice.

“Yeah! Just like gwouah!” Noya said, eyes sparkling with excitement. Asahi laughed, covering his mouth.

“I’ve suddenly got the feeling you’re making fun of me, Asahi.” Asahi couldn’t help but laugh harder, cheeks getting flushed as Noya pouted at him. 

The pair shared another couple drinks, glancing at each other and laughing, leaned over the table towards each other. Asahi felt almost as if he was a plant drawn toward sunlight, unable to keep his eyes from Noya’s face for long. 

“Noya, I have a confession to make.” Asahi said seriously, putting his empty glass down. The shorter man looked up at Asahi’s suddenly serious face, and his beer-flushed seemed to get a touch redder.

“Sup.”

“I…” Asahi started, glancing down then back up to Noya’s warm eyes, “I can’t hold my alcohol at all.”

Noya looked confused for a split second, then burst out laughing, slamming fist into the table, “Oh my god, Asahi, are you telling me you’re drunk off like, four rum and cokes? a guy as big as you?!”

“Yes. That is what I am telling you. Well, I haven’t stood up yet but I think so.” 

Noya leaned over the table more, snickering loudly, “Oh my god. Okay you’re cut off then. I’ll be your designated walking home buddy.” 

“I don’t need to be cut off! I’m not having anymore, and… I don’t drink much you know… I’ve got no tolerance.” Asahi said a little sullenly, and Noya calmed a little but couldn’t keep all the laughter out of his voice.

“Well, at least you look cute with a red nose.” Noya said, then blinked when Asahi looked up at him.

“You think so?” 

The shorter boy sputtered, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah I guess! Anyway, we should probably head out. If I have to drag you down the street it’ll take way longer to get you home and I’ve got a long bus ride you know.” Noya spoke fast, making Asahi blink as he processed the information.

“Hmm... Okay.” He said, nodding as he got up. Asahi nodded again and walked over to the bar, only a little unsteady on his feet as he pulled out his wallet to square up. Noya trailed after him, leaning on the bar as Asahi thanked Shimizu for her patience.

Finally the two of them stepped into the night and inhaled the crisp air. Asahi took a few steps, pleased that he wasn’t wobbling too much and Noya laughed a bit. With much he was giggling, Asahi started to suspect that Noya was just as tipsy.

They walked a block together in relative peace before their hands brushed, making Asahi jump a bit. Noya looked at him questioningly and Asahi smiled, looking down and putting his other hand in his pocket.

Noya hummed, then grabbed Asahi’s hand, making his heart sputter and seem to stop for a moment, “Hey Asahi are you sure you’re alright? I don’t want you to fall over.” Asahi’s face felt as if it were on fire and he just nodded, squeezing Noya’s hand lightly. It seemed so small in his own.

“Thank you…” He mumbled, keeping his eyes on his feet as Noya started to pull him along. It was only another two blocks before they stopped in front of Asahi’s building, and Noya released his hand.

“Alright, I’ll text you when I get home.” 

“O-Okay! Yes! P-please do!” Asahi said loudly as he shoved his hand into his pocket as hard as he wished he could shove his foot into his own mouth. A cold breeze picked up and he could hardly feel it with how hot his cheeks were. Noya just smiled, patting Asahi’s arm briefly and starting his walk down the street.

The tall man watched him go for a moment, biting his lip nervously and then pushing open the door and making his way up the rickety stairs. He paused in front of his apartment’s door, looking down at the hand Noya had held and smiling. Then, with a shake of his head, Asahi let himself into his apartment and let the door click shut behind him. His phone buzzed as he took off his shoes, and Asahi paused, pulling it out of his pocket.

“Don’t forget to have some water before bed. See you soon ;)” 

Asahi shoved his phone in his pocket again, then covered his face with his hands. He leaned heavily on the wall and tipped his head back.

“Oh, oh no.” He whispered as his heartbeat pounded in his ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing playlists:  
> http://8tracks.com/deeyouwhy/little-funk-in-your-life  
> http://8tracks.com/melodust/our-place-in-the-cosmos
> 
> also, I think the title is steadily getting more apt, because christ this fic is dragging its ass getting anywhere. I'm sorry I'm a terrible slow builder.
> 
> please Kudos and Comment if you enjoyed it, and I'll see you again soon, lovelies. <3


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